PLANET IN PERIL

Common Dreams Ronnie Cummins: "These victories make it clear to agribusiness giants like Monsanto and Dow that the day has come when they can no longer buy and lie their way to victory." Details here.

Manitoba Co-Operator. Laura Rance PLT photo Canadian health and veterinary authorities have been discussing the virtually unregulated and poorly monitored antibiotic use in farm animals since the late 1990s. Full story here.

Sacramento | Reuters – California’s drought will cause thousands of workers to lose their jobs and cost farmers in the state’s Central Valley breadbasket US$1.7 billion, researchers said in the first economic study of what may be the state’s driest year on record. Details here.

International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) A PinP photo. WINNIPEG: In 2013, the City of Winnipeg and IISD embarked on a project to turn locally harvested cattail ( Typha ) and native prairie grasses into pellets to burn in a pellet stove located at the Living Prairie Museum, a facility run by the City. This video documents the process of harvesting, processing, pelletizing and burning the plant materials.

Global TV -   "16x9"  PLT photo. In this episode of 16×9: Honeybees in crisis – dying by the tens of millions. But it may be the human factor – our trust in science – that’s killing the species. Watch video here.

I am pleased to have been chosen to serve on a panel during the "Holding Power to Account" conference, at the University of Winnipeg, on June 13th, 14th and 15th. The event will explore the importance of the news medias' role in exposing corporate and political wrongdoing. There will be scores of speakers from no less than 5 continents. Among the featured speakers will be Peter Mansbridge, host of CBC TV's The National, Diana Swayne, the CBC's senior investigative correspondent and Carl Bernstein, part of the Washington Post team which exposed the Watergate scandal several years ago.  My panel will provide "a   showcase of co-operative and public radio pioneers and their work in holding the powerful to account." It is scheduled for 2.15 on the afternoon of Sat. June 14th. Please consider attending!

CBC News Some B.C. glaciers losing 22 billion cubic metres of water. Full story here. Further east, the massive  Columbia Icefield in Alberta,  (r.) is receding, too. PLT photo.

CBC News Alberta Health has issued a health warning about eggs from two northern lakes downstream from the oilsands after they were found to contain dangerous levels of mercury.  Details here. Related:   Manitoba's Declining Wild Berries and Medicinal Plants Found To Be In Sickly Condition; Farm chemicals remain the prime suspect.   First Nations Researchers.  

Montreal Gazette Sale of controversial seed delayed after protests across Canada. Details here.

EcoWatch:  Over the past winter—a season when honeybee hives are most vulnerable—the U.S. lost 23.2 percent of its hive honeybee population. That is lower than the previous winter’s 30.5 percent death rate, but the cumulative impact on honeybee populations over the past eight years poses a major threat to their long-term survival, as well as the country’s agricultural productivity, the USDA said. Details here. PLT photo.

By Larry Powell A tale that is all too tragic. And familiar  For centuries, the aboriginal people of North America’s great plains have gathered wild berries and plants for food and medicine. Now, members of two First Nations in Central Manitoba have not only observed declines in the abundance of such crops, they have documented unhealthy foliage and severe deformities in many of them. These include chokecherries, raspberries, Indian breadroot, saskatoons, cranberries and hawthorns. Deformed chokecherry in study area. Unhealthy saskatoons. After obtaining federal funding for a detailed study, several band members gathered hundreds of samples in and around Swan Lake, southwest of Portage La Prairie, and Rolling River, southeast of Riding Mountain National Park. The study was done almost three years ago but not made public until now. For years, elders have watched as harvest areas shrink and overall quality declines. Where sage and sweet grass once