PLANET IN PERIL

Environment Canada - A Year in Review From super storms to super heat, and from immense flooding to immense fires; "go big" seemed to be the theme for Mother Nature in 2012. Details here.  Beautiful though it may be, heavy hoarfrost has coated power lines throughout Manitoba, causing them to sag and break . H ydro crews have been sent scrambling to fix hundreds of outages. In some cases, power has been out for several hours in freezing temperatures. While cold snaps still occur, the warming atmosphere is capable of holding more moisture - much more than it used to. This triggers more frequent and severe events such as this. (PLT photo.) PLT: To his credit, Dave Phillips, Ottawa's "go-to" guy for media questions about weather and climate, won't flatly deny that climate change is playing a role here. But neither is he helpful when he muddies the water about not being able to attribute a single year's worth of weather to that factor. (Don't fo

The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives In Canada, large industrial operations designed to raise hundreds to thousands of pigs in confinement have largely replaced the small, mixed farms that dominated the landscape before the Second World War. These pig factories typically rely on liquid manure systems and have been widely criticized for their negative impact on the environment, and worker health. Details here.

The Globe and Mail reports, “Oil and gas development is to be banned from a 400,000-hectare area in northwestern British Columbia known as the Sacred Headwaters… Details here. Photo credit; Greystone Books. PLT: While I've labelled this post "Victory," a reading of the small print will reveal that it is still the corporations who really call the shots in our world.

Dear PLT readers, I'm again involved in researching an in-depth magazine article which will be appearing in the new year. Will tell you more as the time approaches. And, of course, there's Christmas and all that that involves! So I won't be posting as often as I normally do. Anyway, things should get back to normal in the next few weeks. Meanwhile, have a great holiday season and the very best in 2013! Sincerely, Larry

CBC Radio - Sunday Edition Over the past century, Christmas has become an annual excuse for frenzied, even pathological consumerism. Sure, it helps businesses big and small, but do we really need all that stuff?  Listen here.

George Monbiot Pathological consumption has become so normalised that we scarcely notice it. Full story here. PLT: Get a talking fish toy for your loved one this Christmas! What a catch!

Alternet A highly secretive trade agreement aims to penalize countries that protect workers, consumers, and the environment. Details here. PLT:  Luckily, there's growing opposition to this slimy deal which our very own King Stephen is in the middle of. What's that green stuff on your hands, Prime Minister?

Cdn. Youth Delegation - Climate Conference, Qatar An hour ago, two members of the Arab Youth Climate Movement were  arrested. They held up a banner in the COP18 conference centre that read, “Qatar, why host, not lead?”. Onlookers erupted in cheers as... Details here.

Alternatives Journal - Alana Westwood Canadians are apologetic people. Yet, navigating the halls of the COP18 climate negotiations as a member of the Canadian Youth Delegation (CYD), the “sorry”s I gave weren’t stereotypical Canuck politeness. Instead, they were apologies of shame for... Details here.                      East-Central SK, 2011. PLT photo

CYD-DJC The CYD-DJC is releasing the report Commitment Issues: Tar sands extraction invalidates Canada’s obligations to the UNFCCC and undermines global climate change negotiations . This  technical report details the role of Canada’s tar sands in ensuring the nation’s failure to meet international climate commitments. It calls for a moratorium on new tar sands to developments, as this is the most effective way for Canada to have any hope of adhering to the commitments it has made to the UNFCCC. The full report is available here , and the executive summary is available here . Le resumé analytique est disponible en fran ç ai

Climate Action Network Canada Canada trailed only by Kazakhstan, Iran and Saudi Arabia in 2013 climate change performance index. Details here. Western SK. 2011 PLT photo