Autosaurus Rex: A Story of Dinosaurs

Transparency,Please! Time to Come Clean, Rex! - Sierra Club

Should a CBC radio & TV commentator be

 accepting speaking fees for pro-Tar Sands speeches on the side without publicly disclosing the financial conflict of interest to viewers? Should a national newspaper consider--let alone sign--a strategic partnership with the oil industry (a.k.a. Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers) to produce content? Would such a move render the paper a non-news organization? Should it?

Rex Murphy caricature courtesy 

of By the Bay Art Studio

These two stories emerged over the last week and received almost no attention in the media. There has to be a better explanation than Olympic coverage eating up air time.

Kerry: Climate Change is World's 'Most Fearsome' WMD; Slams Deniers as 'Flat-Earthers'

Brandon Sun

A raging stream where none had been before during Manitoba's epic flooding of 2011.  PLT photo.

JAKARTA, Indonesia - Climate change may be the world's "most fearsome" weapon of mass destruction and urgent global action is needed to combat it, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said on Sunday. He compared those who deny its existence to people who insist the Earth is flat. Details here.

Keystone XL Pipeline: 4 Animals and 3 Habitats in Its Path

National Geographic

Power line impact on the whooping crane just one of the wildlife concerns. Details here.

Please also read: 

• Unsung Victims of the XL Pipeline 
• Keystone XL's Ugly Toll on America's Endangered Species

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.