PLANET IN PERIL

08/19/11 Manitoba CO-OPERATOR After several months of cool wet weather, Manitoba has turned hot and dry... Details here. Around Rosetown, Sask.,  farmers say they're worried  the worst drought in decades  could be underway. (CBC) Please also read: Parched Prairies: Latest Drought a Sign of Things to Come? A university of Regina professor calls it climate change!

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.

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.

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

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.

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 .