Thursday, October 4, 2012

At Last. Someone Gets to the "Bottom" of Climate Change!

by Danny Dimwit

ROBLIN, MB: 

Wow! Sure has been windy lately, huh?

We had two big trees blow down right beside our own house near Roblin late one night back in July. The top 8 or 10 feet of 6 others were ripped off and came crashing down at the same time.

I even had a heart attack after cleaning up the mess in my yard. (Needed open-heart surgery - bypasses, the whole 9 yards!)

(Later, I talked to a lady who had a bit of a heart attack, too, while cleaning up a campground near Portage, further to the east. She said a big wind kind of like a tornado had passed through!)

The storm at our place (I think they called it a plow wind), damaged our sun porch, buckled our garage door and damaged our car. Cost a couple of thou to fix.

As bad as it was, other poor souls in our neck of the woods also suffered damage from the wind which could have been even worse. We saw trees down everywhere, including some on top of houses and trailers in Roblin. Did you?

Word is, folks were even taking food to the dump because their power was out for so long, it spoiled.

Lately, those damn grassfires whipped by the wind, have even been burning houses and forcing folks out of their homes south of the Peg. They've been without power for days now!

A couple of years ago, and last year, too, I guess, we sure did have a lot of flooding. Our farmers couldn't grow crops on millions of acres because of it, apparently. Now, this year, it's drought. Yields weren't what they'd hoped for earlier. Apparently crop diseases that are usually rare, were more common 'kuz of the lack of rain.

I've heard that some folks who lived along the lakes still aren't even back home, yet. Bummer!

But this is nothing new, is it? We get bad weather all the time, don't we?

And those people who call themselves "experts," with the government and the universities, telling us that we, you and me, are behind this "athro por jenik," or whatever, change in our weather! What a bunch of pointy-heads!

I only got my high school, but I talk to folks in the coffee shop! They may not have fancy degrees, but they know things! And they say this weird weather is natural. It's just part of natural shifts in weather patterns, sun flares, the tilt of the earth, 'n such...things we got no control over. Apparently there even used to be a big lake covering a lot of the province. So there! That proves it!

And that fella, Tim Ball, he knows. He was a professor once. And he goes around telling farmers they better hope for more global warming! The pointy-heads claim they get their information from satellites, weather stations, models they make using computers, observatories on mountains, tree rings and ice-cores. Not sure where Tim gets his from. But I just know he's out there in the arctic and in the deserts, gathering the proof he needs for what he says!

And those pictures you see in the news of polar bears swimming up north and all the ice melting….that's just those pointy-heads, doctoring the photos so they can get more research money. They must be doing something crooked, kuz Tim says the planet is actually cooling down, not heating up!

They try to tell us the bad storms are worse and happening more than they used to. What a crock!

I remember, when I was a kid, back in the 40s and 50s.....well, OK, I don't remember almost getting killed in my house, or houses burning, or so many crops being wiped out, or floods destroying so many cabins, communities being evacuated or highways caving in quite like this. 

OK, maybe not.

But the warm weather! Hey, so what if it is getting hotter out there!  Those warnings from the pointy-heads that our kids may face a planet unfit to live in when they grow up, is just more blather! After all, you can always crank up the A/C in your car. That's what I do!

I say, if this is global warming, bring it on!
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PLT: The facts of this tale, we know to be true, unlike the name we have ascribed to the "author." The scarey part is, the conclusions Danny draws are disturbingly similar to real opinions one hears all too often on the street!

Tuesday, October 2, 2012

Wildfires Prompt Manitoba to Clamp Travel Restrictions on Southeastern Area

Government of Manitoba News Release.

Hot, dry conditions and high winds are driving grass and brush fires in several areas including fires near the communities of St. Malo, Richer, Milner Ridge and Vita.
For latest conditions, check here.
Firefighters battle a raging brush fire that is threatening 
homes in Winnipeg.  WINNIPEG FREE PRESS) 
                FIRE UPDATE
New Travel Restrictions Introduced

The Office of the Fire Commissioner, Manitoba Conservation and Water Stewardship, and the Manitoba Emergency Measures Organization continue to support municipalities and fire departments with fires in southeast Manitoba.

Hot, dry conditions and high winds are driving grass and brush fires in several areas including fires near the communities of St. Malo, Richer, Milner Ridge and Vita.  Non-essential personnel are asked to avoid these areas as conditions are changing quickly.

Municipal and provincial staff are also working with the municipalities of Grahamdale and St. Laurent to address fires.

The community of Vita issued an evacuation order earlier today.  Area residents are being directed to a reception centre in Steinbach.  The bridge west of the community has burned and there is no access from the west on PR 201.

Manitoba Conservation and Water Stewardship is providing three water bombers to address the fires near Vita and Richer.  Two water bombers from Ontario are also providing assistance.

The department is also introducing backcountry travel restrictions in the eastern region effective immediately.  This includes the area east of PR 302 to the Ontario border and south of the TransCanada Highway to the U.S. border.  Backcountry travel is now allowed by permit only.

Monday, October 1, 2012

2012 US Drought: Pick Your Poison

By Brian Bienkowski The Daily Climate

As harvest season gets underway, farmers find drought-stressed crops are susceptible to toxins and contaminants, further reducing yields. Details here.

By Charles Abbott WASHINGTON

Global Fisheries Approaching Collapse

                                         Planetsave
A new report by the Sustainable Fisheries Group (SFG) has confirmed the suspicions held by many researchers that the thousands of fisheries that there isn’t much data on, that’s nearly 80 percent of the world’s fisheries, are in steep decline but could potentially recover to a degree if they are properly managed. Full story here.


Photo credit:  Ecology Action Centre.

Pipeline Whistleblower: Cracks in The System

By Andrew Nikiforuk, Today, TheTyee.ca

An insider ties poor weld inspections to rising rate of ruptures. Part two of a Tyee investigation. Full story here.

Saturday, September 29, 2012

Mystery of the Disappearing Bees: Solved!

Reuters
Beehives, Fort Whyte Centre, Winnipeg MB. Photos by PinP.

If it were a novel, people would criticize the plot for being too      
far-fetched – thriving colonies disappear overnight without leaving a trace, the bodies of the victims are never found.  Full story here. 

 







Friday, September 28, 2012

The Organic Movement "Gets the Ear" of the Government of Manitoba

Minister declares week of Dec. 22-29 "Organic Week" in Manitoba.
 Chemical-free veggies, fresh from a MB garden. PLT photo

Manitoba's Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Initiatives, Ron Kostyshyn, (l.) enjoyed a 4-course, gourmet organic meal with organic producers and retailers at an intimate Winnipeg restaurant last evening. Fusion Grill is long known for its support of fresh, local and organic food. 

Mr. Kostyshyn promised the guests his government would attempt to "raise the profile" of organic agriculture in the province.

He then signed a declaration, proclaiming Sept. 22-29th as "Organic Week in Manitoba." (The week just passed was National Organic Week.)

I was there, too, representing PLT and enjoying delicious dishes, ranging from roast heirloom squash to pumpkin crème brulee.

Please also read: "Manitoba Proclaims Organic Week," here.

After the feast,  I took the opportunity to "corner" the Minister to ask him how he felt about my article recently published in the Journal, Alternatives, exposing the "dark side" of Roundup, a pesticide widely used in agriculture. (I had sent him a link to the story three weeks ago, but hadn't heard back.) Below is a verbatim copy on the interview. 

Larry
====

PLT. Mr. Kostyshyn, I know the province is looking at banning the use of cosmetic pesticides on lawns and gardens and I think the Minister of Environmet seemed to sound like he might actually go for it (a ban). How big a leap is it to assume that some kind of ban or clampdown on agricultural pesticides might be in the works?

Minister. Well, obviously, Mr. Gord Macintosh is the Min. that's involved in the cosmetic ban at this point in time….

PLT.  But you are the Minister of Agriculture.

Minister. But I'm Minister of Agriculture, but the pesticide ban as far as lawn pesticides falls under his jurisdiction. 

PLT. I appreciate that. 

Minister.  So at this point in time, Mr. Macintosh and I have had some discussions but to speculate what's happening in future I think would be somewhat immature (sic) for me to make a comment at this time.

PLT.  Is it difficult for the province to have any control or does it have much control at all about the regulation of pesticides province-wide or is that pretty well a federal purvue?

Minister. Basically, we rely on the scientists with the fed. agencies that go through the necessary testing of the product that's being questioned.

PLT. I wonder if you'd do me a favour, I just had an article published in the Journal Alternative about Roundup. It points out and lists and documents a long and growing list of medical studies on the adverse effects of Roundup on crops, livestock, wildlife, on human beings, and yet this science seems to be getting lost somewhere out there. Would you do me a favour and read that article and get back to me on what you think of it…like, you must be aware of some of these studies?

Minister. Basically, I've heard some documentation. I have to be quite honest with you, Larry, I haven't investigated. But your request to bring forward that piece of documentation, if you would forward it to my office….my special assistant...

PLT. Actually, I did that, 3 wks ago in an email….I don't know if …you must have missed it but I did send it to you and several other people.

Minister.  I appreciate that. As you may remember, I was in Whitehorse, just got back..we were going thru "Growing Forward" and the hog industry…we were in the shortage feed….I'm not prioritizing..maybe the documentation is somewhere in the system but I haven't had the chance to read it.

PLT. if you could get back to me after reading and answer the questions in my email, that would be terrific.

Minister. I'll gladly get back to you.
====
Larry