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Hypocricy, Cynicism and Lies Stain the Tory Record in Manitoba (Letter)

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Dear Editor, I never thought I'd say this. But I may be lucky to be living in a riding represented by a Member of Parliament on the government side, (Robert Sopuck - Dauphin/Swan River/Marquette) after all. I say this because the government Mr. Sopuck represents, under Stephen Harper, has decided the Assiniboine River, one of millions of lakes, rivers and streams in Canada, is among the very few designated as "protected" by its new, "Navigation Protection Act."  (It happens to flow through Mr. Sopuck's riding.)  Shellmouth Dam on the Assiniboine. Could it now be harder to approve such structures in Tory ridings - but easier elsewhere? PLT photo. The Assiniboine forms Lake of the Prairies, a popular area for cottagers and boaters, just a few clicks west of where I live. This protection means that ice-fishers, anglers and pleasure boaters will keep their historic right, which dates back to Sir John A. himself, to navigate the river without having to

131 Years of Global Warming in 26 Seconds (Video)

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OnEarth From our friends at NASA comes this amazing 26-second video, depicting how temperatures around the globe have warmed since 1880. That year is what scientists call the beginning of the “modern record.” You’ll note an acceleration of those temperatures in the late 1970s as greenhouse gas emissions from energy production increased worldwide. The data comes from NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies in New York, which monitors global surface temperatures. As NASA notes, “in this animation, reds indicate temperatures higher than the average during a baseline period of 1951-1980, while blues indicate lower temperatures than the baseline average.”

Scientists say Global Warming is Likely "Driver" for Intense Hurricanes

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Calgary Herald   WASHINGTON, D.C. – As America’s financial and political capitals braced for what the National Weather Service has called a storm of historic proportions, the subject that politicians here dare not mention has suddenly been pushed to the forefront of public attention by the massive power of nature. Details here. Prof. Ray mond Bradley Unversity of Mas sachusetts

Organic Farmer Worries About Weedkiller Sprayed in Ditches in Rural Manitoba

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CBC News:   The Rural Municipality of Morton defends use of Tordon 101 for weeds.  Details here. PLT: I despair over the lack of sensitivity which is all too common among our local councillors. They sometimes remind me of gunslingers from the Old West who shoot first and ask questions later. Do they even know what's in the stuff they so liberally spray around with apparent abandon? Here's what Wikipedia says about Tordon 101 . The maker of Tordon 101 , Dow AgroSciences, has seen fit to give it a code name - "Agent White." It is a powerful herbicide which the US military sprayed as a defoliant during the Vietnam War. It was one of the so-called "rainbow herbicides" that included the more infamous Agent Orange. Unlike Agent Orange , Tordon 101 does not contains the potent poisons known as dioxins. But it does contain 2-4-D, another potent weedkiller which robs plants of their ability to absorb life giving, airborn nitrogen. And its other active ingred

Barbed Wire and Politicians Spell Bad News for Australian Bats

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Bat Conservation International The past few months have been rough on flying foxes in Australia. In September, the state of Queensland reinstated fruit-growers' right to kill flying foxes, which had been prohibited as inhumane. Full story here.

Why I’m Voting Green

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By Chris Hedges - Truthdig The November election is not a battle between Republicans and Democrats. It is not a battle between Barack Obama and Mitt Romney. It is a battle between the corporate state and us. Details here. Chris Hedges - columnist

Frankenstorm: Has Climate Change Created A Monster?

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National Public Radio (US) It was not a good year for people, weather and climate. The winter was strangely warm in many places and the summer ridiculously hot. As a large fraction of the country suffered through extreme or even extraordinary drought many folksnaturally wondered, "Is this climate change?"  Full story here. Sandy wrecks havoc in southern Ontario. (CBC photo) PLT: Below is a comment I prepared for a blog published by Andrew Revkin of, wait for this, the prestigious New York Times. While he may fall short of an outright "denier," he is what I am calling "a sower of seeds of doubt." In one of his latest posts,  Revkin opines that any suggestion that climate change is behind Hurricane Sandy is, in effect, too simplistic! 

Toronto's Glass Towers Take Awful Toll on Precious Bird Life

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New York Times No one is sure, but Toronto's massive banks and other skyscrapers may be making it the most deadly city in the world for our precious, migratory birds. Details here. Cape May Warbler. PLT photo

Monsanto's Lies and the GMO Labeling Battle

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Common Dreams You may have never heard of Henry I. Miller, but right now he is attempting to determine the future of food in this country.  And he has enormous financial backing. Details here.

Long Overdue Canada's Boreal Caribou Strategy Released

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Manitoba Wildlands "...almost all the Alberta herds — most of which are in the same region as the oilsands — are very unlikely to survive." A July 28, 2011 Federal Court decision forced the Federal Minister of the Environment, Peter Kent to revisit his March 2011 decision to refuse emergency protections for woodland caribou in Alberta affected by oil sands development. The Canadian Government was given until September 1, 2011 to implement a draft recovery strategy for woodland caribou. 

Senate Recommendations on a Grey Seal Cull: the Good, the Bad, the Outrageous

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International Fund for Animal Welfare The Canadian Senate, our Senate, has just released its report on the “management” of grey seal populations on Canada’s East Coast and recommends spending millions in taxpayer dollars on an “experiment” that is so incredibly flawed that, whatever the result, it will be entirely unreliable.  Details here. Photograph: Joe Cornish/NTPL