PLANET IN PERIL

Grist - Jan 13-2012 Claire Robinson "We are inching our way toward a critical tipping point," said Steve Ellis, secretary of the National Honey Bee Advisory Board… Details here. Honeybees photo by PLT Please also read: "Scientists Link Mass Death of British Bees to Farm Pesticides

Dear Editor, I think the Government of Manitoba has some explaining to do.  With Lake Winnipeg's water quality getting progressively worse through the years, why has Premier Selinger done away with the Ministry of Water Stewardship? Former Premier Gary Doer created the Department almost a decade ago. Since then, the government has bragged about it being "the first in Canada," suggesting it was needed to deal with mounting problems such as floods, agricultural and industrial impacts, eutrophication, excessive algae bloom, climate change and a growing population.  Then, with the stroke of a pen last week, the Premier has reduced Water Stewardship to a branch of the Department of Conservation. Why? It seems to me that the stewardship of Manitoba waters was the beginning of a life line for the survival of Lake Winnipeg. Now it has been taken away. At no time in Manitoba's history has there been such a need for a Department of Water Stewardship as the

Jan 11, 2012 Reuters Canada WINNIPEG, Manitoba - A weed resistant to a widely used chemical to protect crops has spread for the first time to Western Canada, the country's grain and canola belt. Read more here.   Kochia, Kochia scoparia.   Photo by Jack Kelly Clark.

The Canadian Press - 01/13/2012 MONTREAL - A group led by a former Bloc Quebecois MP is taking the Canadian government to court in the hope of overturning Ottawa's decision to withdraw from the Kyoto Protocol. Read more.

Greenpeace - Jan 10-2012 Between 1999 and 2008 Enbridge pipelines spilled oil 610 times. Details here. A bunch of "radicals" at a Regina  demo about 2 yrs ago - PLT photo

Hi Larry, Holy smokes! Stephen Harper’s Conservatives entered 2012 with guns blazing, accusing “environmentalists and other radical groups” opposing the Northern Gateway pipeline of having a “radical ideological agenda” in an unprecedented open letter . That’s you and me they’re talking about, Larry. Since day one of the No Tankers movement, our position has been that British Columbians should have a say in how their air, land and water is managed.  We don’t call that having a radical agenda, we call it democracy. Yet Harper and the oil industry seem increasingly threatened by reasonable citizens expressing reasonable concerns about our country and its resources. That’s why they’ve launched a coordinated American-style attack on opponents of Enbridge’s Northern Gateway pipeline. What can we do about it? We’ve been striking back in the media, but we’ve got to think bigger. We’re never going to have as much money as them, but what we can do is beat them with our size

If you like my blog, I hope you'll consider a donation. Thanks! Larry by Larry Powell I don't spend a lot of my life adulating celebrities. In this case, I'm making an exception. Adam had a rough life, growing up as a native kid on a Manitoba reserve. Now, he's an established television star.  But wait, there's more.  He has a social conscience!   He's already made his mark as a cop on "Law and Order." Fame-wise, how much further can you go! Now, he's starring in a new CBC TV series called "Arctic Air." At first, I was leary. The promos hinted at a show all about exploitation of northern resources. So, I watched, with low expectations.  But Adam's character, an executive of  an aviation company, actually shows a sensitivity for the people there who are being affected by the ravages of climate change.  (I really liked it when he punched out a mouthy Calgary mining millionaire. The millionaire showed his ugly, racist

"The idea of a peat mine inside a provincial park is simply sickening,” says Beddome (January 10, 2012) WINNIPEG – Green Party Leader James Beddome, joined by Liberal Leader Jon Gerrard, Manitoba Wildlands Director Gaile Whelan Enns, and Wilderness Committee Campaign Director Eric Reder spoke out against the NDP allowance of peat mining in provincial parks today at the Manitoba Legislature.  The Hecla/Grindstone Provincial Park, adjacent to Lake Winnipeg, may be home to a 531-hectare peat mine if an Environment Act license is granted.  “Regulations are urgently needed to allow continued, and environmentally sustainable, harvesting of peat for gardens and related purposes,” says Gerrard.  “While there is a place for peat harvesting in Manitoba, there is no place for mining in provincial parks.” Beddome added that a provincial compost strategy is also needed, because compost can be used as a replacement for peat in gardens. “Using compost and other alternatives, ra

Jan 10'12 CommonDreams.org Canadian Minister blames environmental, other "radical" groups for blocking Enbridge pipeline. Details here.

Dear Larry , I don't know what it is about today but I'm feeling slightly,  well … radical. How about you? When I wrote before Christmas about an impending government  attack on Canada's environment movement, I wasn't expecting  a formal Declaration of War just 9 days into the New Year. It  came in the form of an " open letter " from Natural Resources  Minister Joe Oliver that’s receiving heavy media coverage all  across the country. The open letter is in response to public hearings into the  Gateway Pipeline that got underway earlier today in BC. The  Gateway project consists of two parallel pipelines between  an inland terminal at Bruderheim, Alberta, and a marine  terminal near Kitimat, British Columbia, each a length of  1,177 kilometers. The plan to build pipelin