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The RM of Shell River Will be Told About New Technology for Waste Disposal. Will it Listen?

Dear Editor, I'd like to extend a challenge to my local government, the Rural Municipality of Shell River.  (Please read earlier story here.) I'd like you to prove to myself and my community that you are living in the 21st century and determined to be the best that you can be. So far, you've been moving quietly ahead with plans to build a major, new, earthen sewage lagoon, using technology that is, at least, decades-old. An expert in the field of waste treatment and water pollution, Prof. Bill Paton of Brandon University, says such lagoons "Do not perform well in Manitoba's climate. I have not found any Manitoba lagoons that meet effluent license requirements. Many of them also leak to groundwater!" And a former potato farmer I have talked to, Al Baron, says he had to abandon his farm near Carberry years ago when expansion of a nearby lagoon contaminated his land, making it unfit to carry on as a producer. You didn't

Report Highlights Hidden Costs of Factory Farms

Sarah Schmidt, Postmedia News  Apr 24, 2012 OTTAWA — Poultry waste fed to cattle, pigs pumped with growth-promoting antibiotics, and mounds of manure dumped in ditches. Details here.

Apple - Introducing Coal! (Greenpeace Video)

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Canadian Pasture and Shelter-Belt Program to Wind Down (Co-operator,April 19) (Letter)

On the chopping block to save money, but not a murmur about the gold-plated Pension Plan that the MP’s have saved for themselves. Well, it's apparent that Gerry Ritz, born in 1951, never had to deal with the dry and wind years of the 1930’s, when never-ending dust clouds,  grasshoppers, and no rain settled on the prairies.  The settlers of those years knew if they were to survive,  changes had to be taken in their farming  methods and stop their land base from being blown  away.  The tree and shrub belts were a beginning, but  also a challenge, as the scarcity of water, even for themselves and livestock, resulted in many  failures and setbacks. But eventually, conditions improved and the trees and shelter belts began  to flourish. And they were successful.  For not only to help prevent the loss of precious topsoil, shelter belts became a refuge and a haven for wildlife, a nesting area and food for birds. Yes, with modern farming methods and  large machinery, the

Jellyfish Populations on the Rise in Coastal Ecosystems

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By Nathan Planetsave - April 23, 2012   Jellyfish populations are growing in the majority of the world’s coastal ecosystems, according to a new study from the University of British Columbia. Details here.

Pacific Islands Face Severe Water Threat, UN Says

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Bangkok, 23 April 2012 – Climate change will exacerbate water stress in Pacific Islands, particularly small islands that rely on seasonal rain for their freshwater needs, according to a report released by the UN Environment Programme today. Details here

Will the Rural Municipality of Shell River Brush Aside Better Technology in Favour of Another Sewage Lagoon?

by Larry Powell  Is Council Withholding Crucial Information? Shell River surrounds the Village of Roblin, in west-central Manitoba. It's where my wife and I live, on a peaceful, rural acreage. In mid-March, the RM quietly sent in a drill truck to test the soil less than a mile upwind of half-a-dozen rural acreages, including our own, with a view to building a new sewage lagoon. (Read earlier story, with photos, here.) Test results, we were told, would be known in a couple of weeks. So, on April 13th, almost a month later, my wife and I appeared before Council. Well, no, we were told, we couldn't have the test results yet because, according to Deputy Reeve Joe Senderewich, who chaired the meeting, "They were not yet official!" We weren't sure if that meant they didn't know, or weren't telling us! Now, after another 10 days and at least one "in-camera" meeting, we understand via the grapevine, that Council may make those res

Stop the Mass Death of Bees! Tell EPA & USDA to Ban Bayer's "Neonic" Insecticides!

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Organic Consumers Asn. PLT photo  Commercial beekeepers have filed an emergency legal petition with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to suspend use of a pesticide that is linked to massive honey bee deaths. The legal petition, which specifies Bayer's neonicotinoid pesticide clothianidin, is backed by over one million citizen petition signatures. Click "Go!" to add your voice. Take Action Now! PLT: An open challenge to Canadian beekeepers....how about similar action here?

Ocean Acidification Definitively Linked to Oyster Failure

By Nathan - Planetsave On April 13, 2012 The collapse of a commercial oyster hatchery in Oregon has now been linked definitively to an increase in ocean acidification. Details here.

Canadian Researchers Open a Door to Saving Threatened Bats

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Bat Conservation International. Dear supporters, A research team led by the University of Winnipeg in Canada recently confirmed that the Geomyces  Courtesy of "Bats About Our Town." destructans fungus that causes White-nose Syndrome in North America originated in Europe, where it is still found but does not  cause mass deaths of bats. This suggests that European bats may have faced WNS sometime in the past and the bats that survived evolved to have immunological or behavioral resistance to the disease. This research also demonstrates that the WNS fungus was almost certainly carried, inadvertently, by humans from an infected European cave to North America. Since it was first reported on the muzzles of little brown bats in New York’s Howes Cave, WNS has killed more than 5.7 million bats, according to federal biologists. This new evidence that humans can carry and spread the fungus reinforces the need for targeted closures of caves used by bats, as we

How the European Commission is Responding to the Sahel Food Crisis

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European Union - Europa - Apr 12 2012 1. How big is the food crisis in the Sahel in 2012? This is one of the biggest humanitarian crises in the world today. Details here.