PLANET IN PERIL

 BULLIT MARQUEZ / THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Residents retrieve a car which was washed away in Friday's flash flooding in southern Philippines Monday. With funeral parlors overwhelmed, authorities organized the first mass burial of unidentified victims who were swept to their deaths in one of the worst calamities to strike the region in decades.

Politico - Dec 15 '11 President Barack Obama turned it into a campaign-trail talking point: He would end the Bush administration’s “war on science.” Read more: Smog over New York.

By Jason Fekete, Postmedia News December 13, 2011 OTTAWA — The public safety of Canadians is increasingly at risk because the federal government is failing to monitor and enforce its regulations on dangerous goods and decades-old oil and gas pipelines, Canada's environment watchdog warns in a new report. Details here.

By: Michelle McQuigge, The Canadian Press - 12/12/2011 TORONTO - Dreaming of a white Christmas may be a holiday tradition, but Canadians are more likely than ever to wake up instead to the dreary brown reality wrought by climate change, Environment Canada said Monday. Details here. The shrinking Columbia Icefield, an important source of meltwater for Canada's prairie rivers. PinP photo.

If you like my blog, please consider a donation. Thanks! Larry Dear Editor, If Stephen Harper is so keen on becoming a "law and order" Prime Minister, why does he seem to have so little regard for the law, himself? Since coming to power about six years ago, his government has been riddled with a litany of dirty tricks, domestic and international crimes. The most recent is his scandalous decision to withdraw from the Kyoto Accord, a legally binding, international agreement to limit human emissions of greenhouse gases, which are causing catastrophic climate change. (Have you noticed Manitoba's tragic and terrible flooding lately?) Even China put Canada to shame at the recent climate talks in Durban, showing a willingness to "step up" and show some environmental leadership while Harper showed none. His "operative" at the talks, Peter Kent (who I now refer to as our "Minister of Environmental Destruction"), once again proved, neither o

ScienceDaily (Dec. 8, 2011) — New research into Earth's paleoclimate history by NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies director James E. Hansen (l.) suggests the potential for rapid climate changes this century, including multiple meters of sea level rise, if global warming is not abated. Details here. PLT: Dr. Hansen is one of those rare birds - a scientist/activist! Here, he is shown being arrested at demonstrations at the White House, protesting against the Keystone XL pipeline. We need more like him!