While Nestlé extracts millions of litres from their land in Ontario, Canada, residents have no drinking water

The Guardian

Just 90 minutes from Toronto, residents of a First Nations community try to improve the water situation as the beverage company extracts from their land. Story here.

From Canadian Coal Mines, Toxic Pollution That Knows No Borders

Yale Environment 360

Massive open-pit coal mines in British Columbia are leaching high concentrations of selenium into the Elk River watershed, damaging fish populations and contaminating drinking water. Now this pollution is flowing across the Canadian-U.S. border, threatening the quality of U.S. waters. Story here.

Bill McKibben likens climate change to Second World War

National Observer

Ponds in the Canadian Arctic, believed to be caused by melting of the permafrost.
Photo by Steve Jurvetson

Environmentalist and author Bill McKibben calls climate change the most important issue facing the world today and likens the struggle against it to the Second World War. Story here.

Canada failing in climate change fight: watchdog

PHYS ORG

Trees downed in a fierce windstorm in Duck Mountain forest, Manitoba, Canada.
A PinP photo.

Canada is doing too little to combat climate change, a parliamentary report warned Tuesday, a day after government scientists warned the country was warming at twice the global rate. Story here.

A slippery slope: How climate change is reshaping the Arctic landscape.

UNIVERSITY OF OTTAWA

A collapsed block of ice-rich permafrost in Alaska.
Benjamin Jones, U.S. Geological Survey

Extremes of summer climate trigger thousands of thermokarst landslides (ones triggered by melting permafrost) in a High Arctic environment. Details here. (Includes a must-see video.)

RELATED:

Canada warming at twice the global rate, climate report finds 

Rapid apple decline has researchers stumped

Science Magazine

An apple orchard in Quebec, Canada. 
Photo by "Daniel Fafard (Dreamdan)"

Young apple trees have been inexplicably dying across the US and Canada. Story here.

When mines poison waterways in British Columbia, Canada, taxpayers swallow the costs

Dogwood

The Mount Polley mine - Jul. 2014 - about a week before the infamous
breach of its earthen containment dam.

After the breach, massive amounts of wastewater surged into
nearby creeks & lakes. Photos by NASA.

Outdated laws, weak enforcement leave the public on the hook for cleanup. Story here.

Great Lakes are rapidly warming, likely to trigger more flooding and extreme weather.

CBC News

North shore of Lk. Superior. A Wikimedia photo.

Report also predicts more severe algae blooms will increase water treatment costs. Story here.

Let's get serious about controlling carbon emissions. (Video)

The European Union will soon ban a suspected carcinogenic fungicide which remains in use in Canada today. Ottawa remains silent.

by Larry Powell

The European Food Safety Agency (EFSA), a branch of the European Union, has declared that chlorothalonil "may cause cancer in humans." Several of the agency's findings were based on tests with lab rats. But it obviously believes their metabolisms are sufficiently similar to ours to place chlorothalonil  in "carcinogenicity category 1B - may cause cancer in humans."                                                     Chlorothalonil is the active ingredient in several agricultural fungicides used to treat mildew, blight and mold in many crops. According to the newspaper, The Guardian, it is the most widely-used pesticide in all of the UK and the the most popular fungicide in the U.S. It's been used, worldwide, since the '60s.

A project based at Simon Fraser University,  CAREX, reports that 581 tonnes of chlorothalonil were sold in BC alone in 2010 and 1,121 tonnes in Ontario in 2008. No figures are given for usage in other provinces.  CAREX (short for CARcinogen Exposure) is made up of experts dedicated to informing Canadians about dangers they face from cancerous substances. But the group also sounds alarms similar to those now raised in Europe."Chlorothalonil  is associated with cancer of the kidney and stomach."  While Statistics Canada does not give a breakdown of active ingredients, the federal agency says almost one in four (23%) of all crop farms in this country applied fungicides of one kind or another in 2011. And it adds, farmers in Manitoba used fungicides "more frequently than those in any other province." Here's what the European study finds:  ·   Chlorothalonil binds to red blood cells, delaying its removal from the body.  ·   It's very toxic if inhaled and can cause serious damage to the eyes and skin. It mainly attacks the kidneys and forstomach, producing both benign and malignant tumours. The treated lab animals were slow to mature sexually and gave birth to underweight young. It produces acute risks to amphibians, long-lasting damage to fish and could pose a hazard to groundwater, especially when it exceeds allowable standards. ·      But there was too little information to determine whether it harms wild mammals, aquatic species other than fish, or bees. (Earlier research, however, has linked it to diminishing numbers of bumblebees, as well.)                                                                                                            The study was peer-reviewed by experts in the field. The Agency's conclusion was strikingly similar to one by the World Health Organization (WHO) in 2015. That's when the WHO ruled that glyphosate, the active ingredient in the world's most popular weedkiller, Roundup, "probably causes cancer in humans."  The European Union is expected to ban chlorthalonil in a month or so.  Canadian regulators take a dramatically different approach.

Less than a year ago, Canada's Pesticide Management Regulatory Agency, PMRA - a division of Health Canada - released results of its "re-evaluation" of  chlorothalonil.  It did impose some restrictions, including its use on cut flowers grown in greenhouses. But its main finding was: "Most uses...meet current standards for protection of human health or the environment. It’s continued registration is acceptable."  In Canada, the fungicide is sold under brand names such as "Daconil" and "Bravo." It's offered as a treatment for a host of diseases in crops, including corn and soybeans. It's made and sold by such chemical giants as Syngenta.  At this writing, it has now been well over three weeks since I emailed the PMRA for a response. I have not heard back. -30-

The destruction of the Earth is a crime. It should be prosecuted. Opinion.

George Monbiot  - The Guardian.

Ashcroft Reserve wildfire - Look Lake, BC, 2017. Photo by Shawn Cahill

Businesses should be liable for the harm they do. Polly Higgins is pushing to make that happen. Story here.