Fracking Chemicals Not on Canada’s Pollutant List

Metro

OTTAWA – Environmentalists and legal experts are criticizing the federal government’s decision to leave toxic fracking chemicals off a list of pollutants going into Canada’s air, land and water. Full story here.

Disasters Poised to Sweep Away Development Gains

IPS Inter Press Service

UXBRIDGE, Canada - Extreme poverty and hunger can be eliminated, but only through far greater efforts to reduce carbon emissions that are overheating the planet and producing punishing droughts, catastrophic floods and ever wilder weather, said climate activists involved in talks to set the Sustainable Development Goals. Details here.

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA US): Climate Change is Getting Worse

The Hill

Changes in the earth's climate are increasing at a steady rate, NOAA warned Thursday in a new report. Read more here.
Summer - 2014. This record flood in Brandon, MB shows a single street re-inforced by a dam, holding back water from a major shopping centre consisting of billions of dollars worth of big-box stores and merchandise in Manitoba's 2nd-biggest city. (PLT photo.)

Related: "Global Surface Temperatures Poised To Rise Rapidly"

Australia Becomes First Developed Nation to Repeal Carbon Tax

Wall Street Journal

Prime Minister Tony Abbott pledged to get rid of the tax last year. Full story here.

Climate thug Abbott (r.).

Credit; Associated Press.

New Provincial Park For Polar Bears in Manitoba?

While talk of jobs and economy have reverberated through the media coverage of our Premiere’s recent throne speech, the province’s significant protected areas announcement has yet to draw the attention it deserves. With the recent discovery of hugely significant polar bear denning areas near Manitoba’s Hudson Bay coast, the province announced a plan to begin consultation on the creation of a provincial park to protect these iconic animals.

Blogger Invites Prominent Tories to Join Greens (Letter)

Dear Editor,

As a member of the Green Party, I'd like to invite two prominent Conservatives in my area, Ken Waddell, the publisher of the Neepawa Banner (formerly the Mayor) and Robert Sopuck, my Member of Parliament, to join the "Greens!"

I was delighted, Mr. Waddell, to read your recent column, supporting (or, at least inviting a debate on) a guaranteed minimum income, as embodied in the successful "Mincome" pilot project in Dauphin back in the 70s. It so happens my party has endorsed such a policy for years. I actually wrote a paper for the Green Party of Manitoba myself a few years ago, detailing the success of "Mincome" and pointing out what a "win-win" effort it was, enriching the lives of many poor and disadvantaged people in just about every way that counted.

And I don't think we need to agonize over how to pay for it. 

Health Study Reveals Alarming Links Between Oil Sands Contaminants and Incidents of Illness in Alberta, Canada

The First Perspective
It is the first report of its kind to draw an associations between oil sands produced environmental contaminants and declines in community health and well-being in Fort Chipewyan, Alberta. Details here.