Posts

Climatologist Dave Phillips Blames Climate Change for Destructive Storms

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The Canadian Press - Jul 19-11 OTTAWA - The freak windstorm that toppled the main stage at the Ottawa Bluesfest may be a sign of weather to come, warns a top climatologist. Details here. PLT: I'd like to applaud Mr. Phillips for finally using the term "climate change," publicly. More and more scientists such as himself are moving away from the old line that "you can not link climate change to any particularly freak weather event." These freak events are becoming so common and widespread, only the most hidebound of "climate-denier" can any longer argue with any credibility against the fact that climate change is real, it is happening now and is very ominous, indeed.

Lions Could Be Extinct in 10-15 Years

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Jul 16 - '11 PlanetSave Lions, these wonderful big cats — I think there isn’t anybody who has ever avoided their charm — could be extinct in just 15 years. Details here.

Driving Energy-Efficient Cars Just Got Cheaper - for Winnipeggers

The City of Winnipeg offers incentive to buy hybrid cars. Details here.

The Use of a Herbicide has Taken Away a Home for Monarch Butterflies.

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New York Times. Jul 15'11  As recently as a decade ago, farms in the Midwest were commonly marred — at least as a farmer would view it — by unruly patches of milkweed. Details here.

Stop the Tar Sands Pipeline!

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Natural Resources Defense Council - 07/15/11  The proposed Keystone XL pipeline would carry dirty tar sands oil from Canada’s Boreal forest to refineries in Texas, destroying songbird habitat, fueling global warming and threatening drinking water for millions of Americans. Take action now .

US Opens Canada to GM Grass Contamination

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Press Release: July 13, 2011, Canadian Biotechnology Action Network  US Department of Agriculture will not regulate genetically modified bluegrass, decision could be applied to future GM crops Ottawa. Canadian environmental groups today expressed new concerns about a serious threat of contamination from genetically modified (GM) plants across the U.S. border after the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) decided last week not to regulate a GM herbicide-tolerant grass, potentially opening the door to similar decisions on future GM crops. U.S. company Scotts Miracle Gro is now free to sell its herbicide-tolerant “Roundup Ready” Kentucky bluegrass in the U.S., without regulatory oversight. In an exchange of letters with Scotts, the USDA declared that it lacked authority over the new GM bluegrass because Scotts did not use a certain “plant pest” in the process of genetically engineering. Superweed rendering by Paul Hoppe “GM grass is a nightmare scenario for contamina

The Great American Carbon Bomb

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Jul 14 '11 TomDispatch.com These days, even ostriches suffer from heat waves. Details here.

CBAN Clarifies Canada's Position on GM Food Labelling.

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On July 11th, PLT reported that regulators from more than 100 countries had agreed on guidance on the labelling of GM foods. Read: " Consumer Rights Victory as US Ends Opposition to GM Labelling Guidelines" I then asked Lucy Sharratt of the Canadian Biotechnology Action Network to clarify what Canada's position is on this old and contentious issue. Here is her response.  (Emphasis mine.) ====== Dear Larry, Thank you for your question. Canada allowed the Codex agreement to be finalized, after trying to stop it and/or sabotage it in various ways over the years. So, officially Canada has agreed to the Codex labelling guidance which, according to the Codex press office: "World food standard body, the FAO/WHO Codex Alimentarius Commission has stated that governments are free to decide on whether and how to label foods derived from modern biotechnology, including foods containing genetically-modified organisms. The labelling should be done in conformity

Happy 100th Birthday Parks Canada!

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Nature Canada - The Parks Canada Agency, the World's oldest parks service, is reaching an important milestone: 100 yrs. of overseeing one of the most extensive, best-managed & highly-respected parks systems in the world. Details here. In or near Jasper National Park.  All photos by PLT.

Canada Mimics US Republicans

Dear Editor, Well, it didn't take long for the new Harper government to start showing its true colours. And, if you care about the rights of ordinary workers, it doesn't look good. With the help of his new "Sarah Palin wanna-be" Labour Minister, Harper has, predictably, legislated an end to the postal lockout. In his infinite "wisdom and mercy," he has imposed a wage settlement on the workers which is even lower than Canada Post had been offering. Canada Post's decision to lock out its workers (if indeed that decision was its own) played conveniently into Harper's hands. It allowed him to impose back-to-work legislation, which fit right in, not only with his own mean-spirited, hidebound ideology, but that of Republicans and Tea-Partiers everywhere. Up until the lockout, at least the mail had been getting through. Sadly, it now seems our descent into American-style austerity, which treats working people as the enemy and the rich as our saviours,

United Nations Predicts Earth's Population to Hit 7 Billion in Fall 2011 (CBC TV)

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This old world of ours is becoming a very crowded place, very quickly. (Watch video here.) Courtesy, NASA