Will Canada's Experimental Lakes Area Rise From the Dead?

International Institute for Sustainable Development

OTTAWA—The International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) welcomes today’s announcement of proposed new regulations that would allow the important scientific research at the Experimental Lakes Area (ELA) to continue. 

One of a countless number of freshwater lakes in Manitoba, Canada. PLT photo.

The proposed regulations are published in the Canada Gazette and are entitled “Experimental Lakes Area Research Activities Regulations” and “Regulations Establishing Conditions for Making Regulations under Subsection 36(5.2) of the Fisheries Act.”

This step, together with the Ontario government’s regulation proposal notice last month, is of critical importance to allow the operation of ELA by a third party. IISD seeks to ensure that the long-term scientific work to understand Canada’s changing freshwater management challenges continues. 

“IISD continues to negotiate with both Ontario and the federal government, and we are hopeful that a final arrangement regarding legal transfer of the Experimental Lakes Area can be reached in the coming weeks,” said Scott Vaughan, IISD president and CEO.

California Farms Are Slow to Adopt Water-Saving Technology - Higher Food Prices on the Way.

Newsweek

Coming soon to a grocery store near you: higher food prices, because California, which grows more than half of the nation's fresh fruits and vegetables, is in its third consecutive year of getting only about one-eighth the usual amount of water from snow melting in the High Sierras. Details here.

Beijing Smog Makes City 'Barely Suitable' For Life, Report Says

Some Canadian-made pollution from an ethanol plant in Manitoba, CA. PLT photo.

(Reuters) - Severe pollution in Beijing has made the Chinese capital "barely suitable" for living, according to an official Chinese report, as the world's second largest economy tries to reduce often hazardous levels of smog caused by decades of rapid growth. Full story here.

Roundup-Resistant Weeds a Clear and Present Danger

the Manitoba Co-Operator

Canadian farmers are being warned to be careful not to lose their most precious weed-control resource. Full story here.

(l.) A newspaper ad showing the "kinder, gentler" side of present day agriculture. (Sarcasm intended.) PLT photo.

Fossil Fuel Subsidies Dampen Shift Towards Renewables

INTER PRESS News Agency

Wind turbine in Saskatchewan, Canada. PLT photo.

Despite evolving public awareness and alarm over climate change, subsidies for the production and consumption of fossil fuels remain a stubborn impediment to shifting the world’s energy matrix towards renewable sources. Full story here.

Group Wants Lac-Mégantic Contamination Records Made Public

The Gazette

The Canadian province of Quebec is refusing to make public all the information it has about the contamination of the Chaudière riverbed caused by the Lac-Mégantic train derailment seven months ago. Details here.

Related: "Have our Servants Become our Masters? Why fossil fuels are no longer our friends."

Call to Action! Let's Educate Ourselves About Pesticides!

by David Neufeld

Do you pay attention to which pesticides your municipality is using on your local public land – parks, ditches, etc.? This is the time to perk up and speak up. And to share this with your friends.

A disposal site for pesticide containers in Manitoba. PLT photo

Every spring our municipalities publish Public Notices on Pesticides – telling us which insecticides, herbicides and rodenticides they plan on using this summer. The notices are appearing in local papers now – as they do every spring around this time. Some names you’ll recognise – like Malathion, but mostly you won’t know what they’re talking about. Therein lies the problem. Manitoba Conservation gives us 15 days from the date of notice to comment on specific pesticide programs and specific products being used. Of course they don’t give us any links to information on the products - and - they make it difficult for us to comment by only giving us a postal address in the notices. There’s mounting independently-researched evidence on negative side-effects to our water, aquatic life and human health of many of the products used.

I’ve been given permission to circulate the following contact information – so you can choose how to send your message. And please do – at least let the Manitoba Department of Conservation (Environment) know you want to be better informed and have more public involvement in decisions on which products they approve and how they are used in our public spaces. And, copy your municipality’s office with your letter. 

 Manitoba Conservation. Pesticide Section                                    Randy.webber@gov.mb.ca  204.945.7107.                                                            

 Box 80 – 160 – 123 Main Street,                                                                

 Winnipeg, R3C 1A5.

Please also read: "Dangerous Ditches - Manitoba’s 'war on weeds' comes complete with powerful herbicides, questionable spraying practices and collateral damage."