Heat... Fire... Disaster: What Climate Change Looks Like

June 29, 2012 by Common Dreams 

Western US fires are being driven by extreme temperatures, which are consistent with IPCC projections. Details here.

 Devoured: A firefighter works the scene of a home being consumed by flames in Colorado, captured by Darrell Spangler

 

After Rio, we Know. Governments Have Given up on the Planet

George Monbiot - the Guardian

It is, perhaps, the greatest failure of collective leadership since the first world war. Full story here.

PLT photo

 Please also read: "Governments and the Climate Challenge. Leadership Failure on a Psychotic Scale"

Violent Storms in Eastern US Leave 3 Million Without Power in Sweltering Heat; 13 Killed

By: Jessica Gresko, The Associated Press

WASHINGTON - Millions across the mid-Atlantic region sweltered Saturday in the aftermath of violent storms that pummeled the eastern U.S. with high winds and downed trees, killing at least 13 people and leaving 3 million without power during a triple-digit heat wave. Full story here.

Residents of the eastern Canadian prairies were no strangers to violent weather, either. See photos, below.

Winds of over 100K per hour struck the area around the west-central Manitoba town of Roblin this week.It was just part of a much larger system that created havoc from Saskatchewan into a wide area of Manitoba. Below, some of the damage in our own yard, northwest of Roblin.  (PLT photos)

 

Canada Dives Back Into Asbestos Industry

Montreal Gazette
Doctors condemn move, but miners and residents applaud it. Full story here.

Prime Minister Harper, Where's My Canada?

Dear Larry,

Canada has become a country that I barely recognize. My Canada, the one that respects people and places, has vanished. Since when did this country bully charities, trash environmental laws, thumb its nose at the international community and silence its own citizens?

Columbia Icefield, Jasper Nat'l. Park

Since Harper took office in May of last year, His Canada starts and ends in the Tar Sands. Whatever Big Oil wants, Big Oil gets. Fish, forests, wildlife be damned.

Our government’s actions are appalling. That’s why this Canada Day I’m honouring my country by vowing to bring back my Canada. I invite you to join me by making a gift to ForestEthics Advocacy today. Here’s why.

Like millions of Canadians, I value clean air and water. I take great pride in this country’s stunning landscapes. I believe government is entrusted to act on behalf of its citizens. And I think every voice must count. This is My Canada.

ForestEthics Advocacy is working hard to restore these values that you and I cherish—to bring back the Canada we know and love. A Canada that protects its people from the tyranny of powerful corporate interests…

…A Canada that is blessed with mountains, forests, rivers, salmon, caribou, wolves, the haunting cry of loons, the wind in the trees, and the tranquility of the wild.

This is the Canada I stand behind and believe in. A Canada worth fighting for.

Please join me and donate to ForestEthics Advocacy now.

Thank you.
Clayton Ruby, C.M.

Board Chair, ForestEthics Advocacy
B.A., LL.B, LL.M., LL.D. (honoris causa)

Sea Level Rise Accelerating in U.S. Atlantic Coast - US Geological Survey

(Courtesy of Google Images)

 

Rates of sea level rise are increasing three-to-four times faster along portions of the U.S. Atlantic Coast than globally, according to a new U.S. Geological Survey report published in Nature Climate Change. Details here.

Elizabeth May: Rookie MP makes mark in Parliament

 By PETER O'NEIL, Vancouver Sun June 22, 2012

OTTAWA - Elizabeth May is holding the last staff meeting of a parliamentary session that is ending this week with the Green party leader and rookie West Coast MP getting widespread accolades for her impressive, though predictably....Details here.