Sunday, May 15, 2011

United Nations Chief Urges Change in Resource Consumption Patterns for Sustainable Development

13 May 2011 – UN News Centre
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today stressed the need for fundamental changes in humanity’s resource consumption patterns and values. Details here.

Saturday, May 14, 2011

Renewable Energy Can Power the World, says Landmark IPCC Study

guardian.co.uk 9 May 2011
UN's climate change science body says renewables supply, particularly solar power, can meet global demand. Details here.

The Audacity of Genetically Modified Foods

By Bruce Robinson Daily Camera - 05/08/2011
The biotech industry, led by Monsanto, promotes the idea that the arguments about genetically modified crops should focus on the science and the economics as Monsanto sees them. Read more:

The Cost of Doing Nothing (about Climate Change)!

Friday, May 13, 2011

A Grandpa's Plea for Future Generations

David Suzuki - Science Matters - May 13'11

Harper Ignores Climate Change to his Discredit

NOTE; My letter below, now appears in the Winnipeg Free Press online at: http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/opinion/letters_to_the_editor/121825344.html as "Ditches not enough."
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Dear Editor,

It was quite a spectacle.

There was Prime Minister Harper, who once called climate change "a Communist plot," blissfully inspecting the devastation it has created in Manitoba before his very eyes.

But rather than launching a frontal attack on its root causes, he predictably promised to help Manitoba dig deeper ditches and build higher dikes.
 
Scientists who know the most about the topic have warned for years that climate change is playing a role in the terrible storms around the world which are getting worse and more frequent. And that, in all likelihood, includes the worst flooding this province has seen in centuries.

So, if we hope to protect our earthly home in more meaningful, lasting ways, we need to cut back on the fossil fuels we burn in our cars and passenger planes. We need meaningful emission control regulations and clean energy sources now.

If this is not done, we will surely be placing future generations at even higher risk.

But I'm not naive.

I know that scandalous neglect by governments, industry and individuals has gone on for so long, we now have no choice but to take the kind of heroic and desperate measures to flood-proof our province which we are now taking.

I also know that action by Canada alone, won't go very far. This is a global problem. It needs global co-operation.

But leadership and backbone by Harper and his newly-minted government would go a long way.

Too bad they have neither.

Maybe in four years.

Larry Powell
Roblin, Manitoba, CA

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Please also read: High Waters: A Climate Connection to the Mississippi River Floods?

Wednesday, May 11, 2011

The Canadian Wheat Board's Going... Now What?

By: Laura Rance - Wpg. Free Press - Posted: 05/7/2011 
Monopoly did much more for farmers than just sell their grain for them. Details here.

Controversial chicken ‘megafarms’ in the UK given millions in government handouts.

The Bureau of Investigative Journalism Campaigners call for more sustainable system after revelations that huge farms near the Wye and Sever...