PLANET IN PERIL

Aug 8 The Dominion  Miles Howe FREDERICTON—Over 1,500 people from across New Brunswick & beyond take to the streets to oppose fracking... Details here. PLT: Gee I don't recall seeing any coverage of this in the mainstream media (MSM)! Surprise!

    Dear Larry , We are asking you to show solidarity with asbestos victims in the Third World and support the campaign to demand the Canadian government ban asbestos mining and exports. Asbestos kills over 100,000 people every year, and Canada is a major player in the death-dealing industry. In a change of tactics, we’re not targeting all Conservative Members of Parliament (MPs) - but just one. A number of other like-minded organizations are also ‘adopting’ a MP and focusing their efforts on convincing him/her what their party is doing is wrong, unethical and immoral. In our case – we have chosen to focus our efforts on the Federal Environment Minister, the Hon. Peter Kent, MP for Thornhill, Ontario. Peter is an intelligent guy and knows what his government is doing is wrong. We need to encourage him to support an end to Canada’s mining and export of asbestos. Peter and his government can prevent thousands of cases of cancer

Food Safety First Aug 10'11 PLT photo  After decades of protecting consumers against dangerous products, federal food safety inspectors are being pulled out of meat plants that produce for local citizens in BC, Saskatchewan and Manitoba. Details here.

Manitoba Co-Operator The federal government has announced a grant of $10 million to Cargill Meat Solutions for its plant at High River, Alberta. Details here.           PLT photo   PLT: While one might welcome the fact that this money will go toward pollution control, it is one more indication that Canada has no plan whatsoever to embrace the "polluters pay" principle. Why should Canadian taxpayers be paying for what Cargill ought to be doing itself? What is even worse - Canada is poised to slash the number of food inspectors  in the name of Harper's holy crusade to hack and slash the deficit. I wonder if the situation described in my earlier blog post, "Cargill Meat Recall in the 'States," will now become even more common here?

Improved forest management needed. 9 August 2011, Rome - Extreme weather events and natural disasters will pose an increasing threat to the world's forests… Details here. PLT photo

By Kim Tingley - OnEarth - a Survival Guide for the Planet - Jul.29/11 These insects may experience emotions similar to our own. Details here.

RAINFOREST Action Network  If TransCanada's Keystone XL pipeline is approved, close to 1 million barrels of thick tar sands crude will flow each day at high pressure from Canada through Montana, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma and all the way to Texas, threatening countless communities and over 2000 waterways, including America's largest under ground water source—the Ogallala Aquifer. Tell President Obama to block the Keystone XL oil pipeline. TAKE ACTION HERE.

 by Larry Powell If you enjoy this blog, please consider  donating to the author to keep it going.  Just click on the link below . Thanks! - Larry                                                                                                        A tractor located in a market garden east of Lumsden, Saskatchewan, sits in water in the Qu'Appelle Valley town northwest of Regina on April 17, 2011. Water-logged Prairie farmers and ranchers are to receive $448 million to help deal with devastating flood damage, Thursday Aug 4, 2011. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Roy Antal

Green/ThinkProgress - 08/4/11 Texas is now in its worst-ever one-year drought, according to John Nielsen-Gammon, the Texas State Climatologist… details here. An underweight longhorn  (Jay Janner/AP) Washington Post.

Democracy Now 08/05/11 In one of the largest meat recalls in U.S. history, this week the food giant Cargill ordered the recall of 36 million pounds of ground turkey. Details here.