Posts

"Planet in Peril" Challenges Conservative Think-Tank on Food Regulation

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by Larry Powell I'd like to correct several statements in a recent article by Cam Dahl of the Frontier Centre for Public Policy that are either misleading, inaccurate, or both. In it, he insisted that Canada's current system of food regulation is "efficient, science-based and safe." Sadly, history tells us something quite different. Almost five years ago, a bright, dedicated young graduate student at the University of Manitoba, Jennifer Magoon, (above)  found statistically significant links between the amount of farm pesticides used in certain regions of this province and the incidence of several health problems in infants. These included severe birth disorders including spina bifida, Down syndrome, cleft palate, lower birth weights, respiratory distress and jaundice. There were eye disorders, too, including retinal degeneration and cataracts. Magoon's findings were based on health records of tens of thousands of people living in rural Manitoba. Her res

Oil Spill In Atlantic Ocean Puts Endangered Penguins And Islanders At High Risk

Shellee Tyler Mar 24'11 - Planetsave Thousands of endangered penguins have been coated with oil after a cargo ship ran aground and broke up on a remote British South Atlantic territory, officials and conservationists said Tuesday. Details here.

Climate "Crock of the Week - Plants Need the Extra Carbon" (Video)

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World Food Prices on the Rise — Expect That to Stay the Same

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Planet Save - Mar 24 '11 Worldwide, high crude oil prices, increasing extreme weather events, population growth and economic development of poorer countries, crop-based biofuels, political conflict and unrest in the Middle East, and slowing crop yield growth are all factors contributing to rising food prices. Details here.

Public Distrusts Climate Science due to Lack of Understanding

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Joshua S Hill - PlanetSave Mar '11 Despite a large majority of scientists with intimate knowledge of the planet’s climate agreeing that climate change is real and human-induced, the public still persists in distrusting the majority at the hands of a few wayward sceptics. Details here.

Healthy Food At School – The Laotian Way

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23 Mar'11 - United Nations VIENTIANE – For the first time in Lao PDR, close to 1,000 primary school children will receive a healthy and balanced school lunch prepared from foods bought at their local market. Details here. A Canadian farmers'  market. l.p. photo

Canada's Second Human "Mad Cow" Case Likely Not Caught In This Country

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Mar 24'11 Manitoba Co-Operator The person believed to be Canada's second-ever case of the type of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease transmitted by BSE-infected beef is seen as unlikely to have picked it up in this country. Details here.

Late Start Seen for Seeding on Prairies

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Mar 22'11 By: Dwayne Klassen - Commodity News Service Canada  Producers in Western Canada who hope to get an early start to seeding will be disappointed, given that the weather is not expected to be very co-operative over the next couple of months . Details here. A soggy, unharvested canola field in  western Manitoba. Fall 2010. l.p. photo

The UN Secretary-General's Message on World Water Day

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United Nations - New York, 22 March 2011  The reservoir behind the Shellmouth Dam, western Manitoba, CA As the world charts a more sustainable future, the crucial interplay among water, food and energy is one of the most formidable challenges we face. Details here.

Saskatchewan Launches Spring Flooding Website

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Mar 21'11 - By: Staff - MB Co-Operator   The Saskatchewan government has launched a website tying together flood and weather forecasts, runoff data and other information to get the public prepared for this spring. Details here.  The bridge over Lake of the Prairies,  on the Manitoba-Saskatchewan border.  l.p. photo

Greenpeace Shuts Down Darlington Nuclear Hearing

Feature story - March 21, 2011 Courtice, Ontario — Greenpeace activists today shut down environmental assessment hearings on a proposal to build new reactors at Darlington in response to the Joint Review Panel’s refusal to suspend the hearings until lessons are learned from the Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan. (NOTE; Photos at very bottom are best.)