Hog Watch Manitoba Exposes the Heavy Hand of Government. (An audio podcast interview)

 Alon Olamel Onebird, host of the program "Rogue Primate" on CKUW - University of Winnipeg Radio - interviews Ruth Pryzner of Hog Watch Manitoba, about the tactics being used by our provincial government in order to secure the financial success of big hog corporations.

Greenpeace Film (on ocean pollution) to be shown at special Winnipeg Screening

Larry,

Never has our blue planet been more under threat. 

And never before have we had a better sense of what's at stake. Come watch the latest film that will captivate and motivate you to join a global movement working to save our oceans.

Greenpeace Canada is sponsoring a special Winnipeg screening of BLUE — the critically-acclaimed and award-winning documentary film which takes you deep into our planet’s threatened oceans and seas. 

This one-night-only screening is an on-demand event. It only takes place if 50 tickets are sold. Reserve your spot now — and portion of ticket sales will go towards supporting Greenpeace's vital work to protect our oceans and the planet. 

WHAT: Special screening of BLUE — an award-winning documentary film

WHEN: Monday 25th June, 7pm

WHERE: Cineplex Odeon McGillivray Cinemas (2190 McGillivray Blvd, Winnipeg, MB, R3Y 1S6)

HOW: Tickets are $14.50 and you can order yours here

Environmentalists accuse B.C. government of fudging the numbers to log some of the world's biggest trees

NATIONAL OBSERVER

Environmentalists have accused the B.C. government of lying about the amount of majestic, centuries-old trees left standing in the province. Story here.

An 800 year-old Douglas-fir near Port Alberni, 
BC Photo by Gillian (EverySpoon)

This is Giant Mine

TheNarwhal 

Giant Mine - 2008. Photo by WinterCity296 WinterforceMedia

This gold mine was once so dangerous that it killed a toddler who ate snow two kilometres away. Canada’s second-largest environmental liability is inside Yellowknife city limits — and intrinsically tied to the city’s history and future. The federal government has now inherited the billion-dollar cleanup effort that could span a century. More here.

Climate change is wiping out the baobab, Africa’s ‘tree of life’

Ameenah Gurib-Fakim - the Guardian

The trees are a scientific wonder, once capable of living for thousands of years, but now becoming endangered species. Story here.

Boab trees. photo by ChatDaniels

Three trillion tonnes of ice lost from Antarctica since 1992

Nature Research Press

Antarctic ice. Photo by Greenpeace

The Antarctic Ice Sheet lost about 3 trillion tonnes of ice between 1992 and 2017. This figure corresponds to a mean sea-level rise of about 8 millimetres. While it could take a thousand years for a total "meltdown," all of Antarctica’s ice sheets, contain enough water to raise global sea level by 58 metres. So they're a key indicator of climate change and driver of sea-level rise. See video, below.


RELATED: Antarctic ice melting faster than thought, studies show.

Firestorm: How Wildfire Will Shape Our Future - a new book by Edward Struzik

The Science Writers and Communicators of Canada is pleased to announce the winners of this year's book awards for books published in 2017.  The winner in the general audience category  is Firestorm: How Wildfire Will Shape Our Future by Edward Struzik.

A summary.

For two months in the spring of 2016, the world watched as wildfire ravaged the Canadian town of Fort McMurray. Firefighters named the fire “the Beast.” It acted like a mythical animal, alive with destructive energy, and they hoped never to see anything like it again. Yet it’s not a stretch to imagine we will all soon live in a world in which fires like the Beast are commonplace. A glance at international headlines shows a remarkable increase in higher temperatures, stronger winds, and drier lands– a trifecta for igniting wildfires like we’ve rarely seen before.

This change is particularly noticeable in the northern forests of the United States and Canada. These forests require fire to maintain healthy ecosystems, but as the human population grows, and as changes in climate, animal and insect species, and disease cause further destabilization, wildfires have turned into a potentially uncontrollable threat to human lives and livelihoods.

Our understanding of the role fire plays in healthy forests has come a long way in the past century. Despite this, we are not prepared to deal with an escalation of fire during periods of intense drought and shorter winters, earlier springs, potentially more lightning strikes and hotter summers. There is too much fuel on the ground, too many people and assets to protect, and no plan in place to deal with these challenges.

In Firestorm, journalist Edward Struzik visits scorched earth from Alaska to Maine, and introduces the scientists, firefighters, and resource managers making the case for a radically different approach to managing wildfire in the 21st century. Wildfires can no longer be treated as avoidable events because the risk and dangers are becoming too great and costly. Struzik weaves a heart-pumping narrative of science, economics, politics, and human determination and points to the ways that we, and the wilder inhabitants of the forests around our cities and towns, might yet flourish in an age of growing megafires.

Edward Struzikhas been writing about scientific and environmental issues for more than 30 years. A fellow at the Institute for Energy and Environmental Policy at Queen’s University in Kingston, Canada, his numerous accolades include the prestigious Atkinson Fellowship in Public Policy and the Sir Sandford Fleming Medal, awarded for outstanding contributions to the understanding of science. In 1996 he was awarded the Knight Science Journalism Fellowship and spent a year at Harvard and MIT researching environment, evolutionary biology, and politics with E.O. Wilson, Stephen Jay Gould and Richard Lewontin. His 2015 book, Future Arctic, focuses on the effects of climate change in the Canadian Arctic and the impacts they will have on rest of the world. His other books include Arctic Icons, The Big Thaw, and Northwest Passage. He is an active speaker and lecturer, and his work as a regular contributor to Yale Environment 360 covers topics such as the effects of climate change and fossil fuel extraction on northern ecosystems and their inhabitants. He is on the Board of Directors for the Canadian Arctic Resources Committee, a citizens’ organization dedicated to the long-term environmental and social well-being of northern Canada and its peoples. He lives in Edmonton, Alberta.

If you want to buy the book, click here.
Firestorm: How Wildfire Will Shape Our Future by Edward Struzik