PLANET IN PERIL

By: Bruce Cheadle, The Canadian Press - May 25-11 OTTAWA - Auditor General Sheila Fraser delivered a farewell address Wednesday in typical blunt-spoken fashion. Details here.

Guardian.UK May 20'11 - Political action on climate change may be mired in Congress, but one arm of government at least is acting: the Pentagon. Details here.

Barn Fire Kills 4000 Hogs (Free Press 23 May) - Letter to the Editor There are not many experiences as horrifying as trapped animals being burnt alive and the stench of death after the fire.          Kichiro Sato AP I consider this great loss and the multitude of previous hog barn fires can be attributed to the failure of our government(s) to protect the welfare of animals and those who take care of them.  Where was the stand of the Pork Council and the Association of Manitoba Municipalities.? Shouldn't they have been questioning the lack of appropriate safety codes and regulations.? Regulations and codes that would help  protect "the Industry" that they helped to spawn, nurture and expand over the past decade and more?.                                                                                   For years, Hog Watch organizations and rural people complained that those huge hog  factories being constructed as ordinary farm buildings, was wrong for t

FAO - May 24th - UN Rome - Silverleaf nightshade takes root in Lebanon and Jordan too. Details here. PLT - Globalization strikes another blow - against farmers. l.p.

18 May 2011 - 12:17pm OTTAWA - Elizabeth May, Leader of the Green Party and MP-elect for Saanich-Gulf Islands, is calling on the federal government to provide federal government support for the thousands of Canadians impacted by flooding in Manitoba and in Quebec. “The provinces and victims should not have to bear the burden of clean-up and recovery for these massive disasters alone. There should be federal support, especially for the First Nations communities that have been affected,” said Ms. May. “The federal government will also have to be prepared to assist with the environmental impacts, as there are concerns these floods have washed large quantities of sewage and farm chemicals into sensitive waterways.” “This is an unprecedented situation, with serious flooding happening simultaneously in multiple regions of the continent,” added Ms. May. “Once the clean-up is done and life has returned to normal for the affected communities, we are going to have to look at the br

WASHINGTON, DC, May 20, 2011 (ENS) Human-induced climate change is contributing to the recent heavy rain and ongoing record flooding along the Mississippi River, and we can expect more extreme weather events in the future, according to the Union of Concerned Scientists. Details here.

By Kiley Kroh 5/17/11 Center for American Progress Record Flooding Threatens Gulf Coast—Again. Details here.

May 17, 2011 Canadian oil production cuts could more than double by Wednesday as companies move to protect employees and property from wildfires raging through northern Alberta… Details here.

By: Alexa Olesen, The Associated Press - 05/17/11 BEIJING, China - Watermelons have been bursting by the score in eastern China after farmers gave them overdoses of growth chemicals during wet weather, creating what state media called fields of "land mines." Details here. PUBLISHER'S COMMENT: This is certainly a jurisdiction we ought to be emulating. Now all we have to do is grow exploding watermelon here and we won't have to import them from way over there! Yeah! That's the ticket! l.p.