PLANET IN PERIL

"Q" CBC Radio PLT photo     Between farmer's markets and a new trend of grocery stores advertising "local food," locavorism seems to have gone mainstream.  But is it really as good for you, and the environment, as you think?  Pierre Desrochers, one of the authors of The Locavore's Dilemma is joined by Jill Richardson, author of Recipe for America for a Q debate. Listen to the podcast here.

By: Nick Martin Winnipeg Free Press Manitoba students will have a new Grade 12 course on sustainable development, and every school will have a sustainability plan, Premier Greg Selinger said today at the Rio+20 United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development in Rio de Janeiro. Full story here.

ACTION ALERT PLEASE SEND, SHARE, LIKE, FORWARD! By Rainforest Portal http://www.rainforestportal.org/ – a project of Ecological Internet June 20, 2012 TAKE ACTION To protect the Amazon with sustainable development based upon standing rainforests:   http://www.rainforestportal.org/shared/alerts/sendsm.aspx?id=brazil_xingu Brazil’s government – host of the “Rio+20” UN Conference on Sustainable Development devoted to sustainable development and sustaining ecosystems – is planning to build 60 dams on tributaries to the Amazon -- including the controversial $11 billion Belo Monte project. Industrial destruction of intact primary rainforest ecosystems based upon ecocide and genocide is not “the world we want” – a motto of Rio+20. These plans for massive Amazon dam construction reveal Brazil’s meaningless rhetoric regarding environmental sustainability and sustainable development, as they hypocritically continue destroying key regional and global ecosystems. Brazil’s decep

George Monbiot - June 18, 2012 PLT photo The summits which promise to save the world keep us dangling, not mobilising . Full story here.

by John Atcheson - Common Dreams We are witnessing an epochal shift in our socio-political world. Full story here.

ACTION ALERT  PLEASE SEND, SHARE, LIKE, FORWARD! Rio+20: Protest Global Leaders Obama, Merkel and Cameron’s Absence By Ecological Internet June 18, 2012   http://www.ecoearth.info/shared/alerts/sendsm.aspx?id=rioplus20 PLT photo These major nations dawdle as Earth burns. Their failed leadership obstructs international efforts to protect our one collapsing biosphere while sustainably meeting all of humanity’s basic needs… Based upon ecological science, we know what must be done to sustain Earth’s life and human advancement: protect and restore primary forest and other intact ecosystems, immediately begin reducing emissions to avoid abrupt climate change based upon common but differentiated responsibilities, reduce inequitable consumption and population growth, and promote fairness in sharing of Earth’s dwindling abundance amongst all nations and their peoples… What could possibly be more important than ensuring Earth remains habitable, and all humanity’s basic needs

Dear Editor,  I've been struck by the irony of recent, published pictures of my Member of Parliament, Robert Sopick. Smiling broadly, he is shown in one, presenting trophies to the winners of a fishing derby and, in the other, in beaming attendance at a sport fishing banquet (below) .  A few days later, the government Mr. Sopuck represents, rammed through the all-purpose budget bill which included the gutting of the Fisheries Act. Now, all the Act will allegedly "protect" are those fish that are part of "a commercial, recreational or aboriginal fishery." The old Act protected all fisheries, presumably because fish don't always stop abruptly at the boundaries they have been designated. How naive! As a recent article from a Canadian professor of environmental law suggests, if the fish don't "obey" the new rules imposed by Harper, they could find themselves in mortal danger of strip mines, oil spills, clear cuts and the other hazards

Changing Election Law Requires All-party Consultation 06/13/12 For Immediate Release: The Manitoba Government, at its own initiative and without consulting with the other political parties in Manitoba, is moving to completely rewrite election law in Manitoba. Typically amendments to the elections law are suggested by Elections Manitoba, the independent agency charged with overseeing elections, and then discussed at an all-party committee meeting before changes are made. Clearly the principles of democracy once held dear by the NDP have now been abandoned. The proposals before the legislature seek only to cement efforts to create a two party system in Manitoba. “The New Democratic Party of Manitoba should rename itself the Non-Democratic Party of Manitoba,” said Green Party of Manitoba Leader James Beddome. “We are outraged that this stealth attack on a fundamental issue of fairness is brought about by the same stealth tactics the Federal Conservatives are using in Ottawa,” Although on

By Scott Huler | May 30, 2012 Scientific American   According to North Carolina law, I am a billionaire. Full story here.

Vancouver Observer Franke James, a Canadian artist and environmental advocate blacklisted by the Harper government, has obtained internal documents indicating BERNARD WEIL/TORONTO STAR   Canadian officials worked behind the scenes to discredit her work. Full story here.