PLANET IN PERIL

CBC News - Jun 16, 2011 Teams will stabilize properties so that owners can safely retrieve items. Details here.  Toronto Star photo  PLT: According to the provincial government's latest flood bulletin, 2,527 Manitobans have now been forced from their homes by the massive flooding. This has surely become an event "of biblical proportions." Except, in this case, does God really have that much to do with it?

17/06/11 – The international community will be facing higher food prices and volatility in commodity markets for some time, according to… Details here. l.p. photo

June 16, 2011 Gov't. of Manitoba Asatiwisipe Aki Management Plan Approved: Blaikie. Details here. Part of the Boreal forest in west-central MB. l.p. photo

By: Rod Kueneman - 06/11/2011 - Winnipeg Free Press   The soil is warming and the arrival of this year's growing season once again provides… Details here.   A crowded beach in China. Courtesy; Secondose PLT - While I might have worded the headline differently that the Free Press did, I believe this is an excellent article. If Prof. Kueneman is not suggesting that climate change is unimportant - and I don't believe he is, his references to world population and consumption are compelling. l.p. 

Canadian Wheat Board 06/14/11 Winnipeg - Unrelenting rain across large areas of Western Canada will severely impact grain production…. Details here. Soggy field. l.p. photo

By Barry Estabrook - 6/13/11 ON E ARTH     a survival guide for the planet Excerpted from the new book "Tomatoland: How Modern Industrial Agriculture Destroyed Our Most Alluring Fruit" Details here. Organic cherry tomatoes. l.p. photo

CBC News - Mar 21, 2011 Innu say caribou will be harmed. Details here. Photo courtesy of  "Our Labrador"

Bob Kingston, Ottawa Citizen 06/14/11 The Canadian Food Inspection Agency might be trying hard to protect Canadian consumers from unsafe imported food. But, the simple fact is… .Details here.

8 June 2011 - GPC OTTAWA - Today is World Oceans Day, Canadian National Clean Air Day, and both World Environment Week and Canadian Environment Week. Today the Green Party of Canada is noting the sad irony that the first federal budget to be tabled during Environment Week is also the weakest environmental budget in recent history. Details here.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xhCY-3XnqS0 Stephen Tomson   Published on Sunday, June 12, 2011 by Plomomedia (via Grist.org) Bill McKibben published a must-read op-ed in The Washington Post last month about the connection between climate change and recent extreme weather events. Now Stephen Thomson has combined McKibben's words with striking footage of the events he writes about. The result is a chilling must-see video:

Chinta Puxley, The Canadian Press - 06/12/2011 WINNIPEG - After four soggy years of flooded pastures and ruined crops, the Manitoba government is looking at how to help frustrated farmers cope with climate change in the province's Interlake region. Details here. ==== PLT: It tears my heart out to learn about the damage and human suffering being inflicted on my fellow Manitobans by the bad weather and flooding. So, as one who supports the science of climate change, I'm encouraged that the topic is slowly creeping into the public discourse. But, our policy-makers will simply have to screw up the courage to put it in context, (which the above story sure as Hell does not do)! At some point they are going to have to say, out loud, that climate change IS CAUSED BY HUMANS. What we need, therefore, are meaningful changes in our personal lifestyles and those of business, industry and government; changes which will significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions. If this is not done, it