Posts

The Curse of Fertilizer

Image
National Geographic Ducks in a nutrient-rich river. PLT photo If we don’t watch out, agriculture could destroy our planet. Here’s how to grow all the food we need with fewer chemicals. Details here. Related articles: Field of Nightmares -  Ottawa continues to embrace the widespread use of Roundup on Canadian farms by letting corporate seduction trump scientific evidence. Ditches of Destruction  -  Manitoba’s “war on weeds” comes complete with powerful herbicides, questionable spraying practices and collateral damage.

Summer Ice Melt In Antarctica Is At The Highest Point In 1,000 Years, Researchers Say

Image
CANBERRA (Reuters) - The summer ice melt in parts of Antarctica is at its highest level in 1,000 years, Australian and British researchers reported on Monday, adding new evidence of the impact of global warming on sensitive Antarctic glaciers and ice shelves. Researchers from the Australian National University and the British Antarctic Survey found data taken from an ice core also shows the summer ice melt has been 10 times more intense over the past 50 years compared with 600 years ago. "It's definitely evidence that the climate and the environment is changing in this part of Antarctica," lead researcher Nerilie Abram said.

Why Would Anyone Celebrate the Death of Margaret Thatcher? Ask a Chilean

The Nation Never have I witnessed a gap between the mainstream media and the public quite like the last twenty-four hours since the death of Margaret Thatcher. Details here.

Climate change: How a Warming World is a Threat to our Food Supplies

Image
The Guardian Global warming is exacerbating political instability as tensions brought on by food insecurity rise. With research suggesting the issue can only get worse we examine the risks around the world. Details here. Manitoba corn following a freak frost; Aug.'07 PLT photo PLT: As a Canadian, I'm getting quite tired of coverage such as this, concentrating on the US as centre of the universe, then radiating outward in any direction except Canada! The only reference I can find in this entire article to my country is this: "Canada will be a winner, as crops move north." Say what?   I've lived most of my 70+ years on the Canadian prairies & the only crop "moving north" that I'm aware of is a rare disease of canola, purportedly carried north on the wind and thriving due to drought. (Kuz we had drought here, too, last summer!)  As I look out my window this mid-April day, I see mounds of snow with more forecast. And I hear on the

Experimental Lakes Area Closure a Financial Blunder, Say Greens

Image
  Grandview:    The Green Party of Canada calls on the  federal government to keep the  Experimental Lakes  Area (ELA) research station open. Closure of ELA will  cost Canadian tax payers $50 million to decommission  the site while keeping it open would only be $2 million  a year.  “Do the math,” says Kate Storey, of the Dauphin  Swan River Marquette Green Party. “This attack on  science is a financial blunder.” Giving no reasons, the Harper government terminated  funding to the facility, forcing it to close this March.  Concerned citizens  have suggested that the closure is  a vendetta against environmentalists. Research coming  out of the experimental lakes could be inconvenient to  those wishing to ignore the effects of toxins on the water  and on the health of Canadians. The Experimental Lakes station  has operated as a unique,  world-renowned centre for freshwater research in  northwestern Ontario for about half-a-century. Studies  done there hav

Green Party Leader Gob-Smacks the Media Darling of the CBC and National Post

Image
Greens do politics differently (But not in the way that Rex Murphy thinks) By Elizabeth May In his Saturday National Post column , Rex Murphy claimed that Canada’s  Green party has no  goal other than to get me elected as an MP —  and that this has been the case for “two or three general elections.”   Full story here. Rex Murphy caricature courtesy  of By the Bay Art Studio

Alberta’s Bold Plan To Cut Emissions Stuns Ottawa And Oil Industry

The Globe & Mail The Alberta government has quietly presented a proposal to sharply increase levies on carbon production and force large oil-industry producers to slash greenhouse gas.... Details here.

Harperites Undermine Democracy - Columnist

Winnipeg Free Press Canadian democracy is under threat from its own government. Details here.

This Is What Democracy Could Look Like

Murray Dobbin's Blog One of the many things that Hugo Chavez, the charismatic and revolutionary president of Venezuela contributed to the world was his demonstration for people everywhere the difference between democracy and liberal democracy.  Details here.

Dangerous Ditches

Image
Manitoba’s “war on weeds” comes complete with powerful herbicides, questionable spraying practices and collateral damage.  by  Larry Powell Leafy Spurge. Photo Credit;  Idaho Weed Awareness Committee Many governments in North America believe, a good way to ensure successful food production, is to help farmers keep plants out of their fields which can cut into their yields and their profits. To achieve this, potent weedkillers, some with unsettling safety records, are often pressed into service  to destroy these "weeds" in ditches before they can spread to adjacent fields and food crops.  For most lawmakers, this must seem a natural extension of a chemical system of agriculture which has come to dominate the developed - and, increasingly - the developing world, as well. As a result, those who might have liked to chose a different path,  are being increasingly marginalized.  Manitoba is no exception.  According to  an official statement  from the province, "Noxio

Ban Pesticides Linked to Bee Deaths, Say Some British MPs

Image
BBC Manitoba honey bees. PLT photo The UK government should suspend the use of a number of pesticides linked to the deaths of bees, a committee of MPs has said. Full story here.