PLANET IN PERIL

Alternet - Feb. 19'11 An Ecuadorian judge ordered Chevron this week to pay $8.6 billion in damages for polluting the Amazon rainforest from 1964 until 1990. Incredibly, Chevron is known to refuse to pay such damages, even when a court orders it to do so! Read story here. 

February 18, 2011 — The Wire Report   OTTAWA—CRTC chair Konrad von Finckenstein says the Commission will not proceed with changes it had been considering, to its prohibition on false and misleading news. von Finckenstein says it's because the Standing Joint Committee for the Scrutiny of Regulations, which had been pressing for the changes, will no longer persue the issue. The move follows a groundswell of protest and petitions which gathered tens of thousands of names in opposition to the idea. Many saw the proposed changes as a way to help prepare for the arrival of an American-style TV network in this country which skeptics have dubbed "Fox News North." Read full story here. Please aslso read: "Is Canada About to Descend Into An America-Style Abyss by Cheapening Our Broadcast Regulations?"

Stephen Leahy - Inter Press Service UXBRIDGE, Ontario, Canada, 17 Feb   Thawing permafrost is threatening to overwhelm attempts to keep the planet from getting too hot for human survival.  Read full story here.

By Keith Schneider - Nat. Resources Defence Council  - OnEarth Magazine -  "A Survival Guide for the Planet" - Fe. 16 '11 NRDC photo. Just after dawn on July 26, 2010, homeowners along Talmadge Creek near Marshall, Michigan, awoke to the chemical stench of raw fuel. Full story here. Read Larry Powell's contributions to OnEarth magazine here.

Friends of the Earth - Feb 17-'11 Canadian company misleads public, asserts pumping dirty Canadian tar sands oil into U.S. would reduce U.S. dependence on foreign oil.

Larry Powell I made what I thought was a reasonable request of CBC Manitoba the other day. I asked it to start including atmospheric levels of carbon dioxide (C02), in its weather casts. After consulting with John Sauder ( CBC photo - r. ), their extremely competent "weather guy"(John is Manitoba's only broadcast meteorologist), a CBC spokesperson told me, "no." Why? Because it might be "inflammatory!" The CBC further explained that, wind chill factors and UV levels, which they report regularly, were things upon which their listeners/viewers "can actually take some immediate, personal action." The implication in that response is that there is nothing we can actually do about climate change! That, I found, was the most chilling part of all. Apparently, we can no longer choose to drive smaller cars, take the bus, live close to work or just visit the Mayan Riviera every other year. By way of background, I'm someone who re