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Critics Say More Needs to be Done to Prevent Another (Canadian) Lac-Megantic Disaster

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Canadian Press Photo credit - Canadian Press. OTTAWA – Periodic flurries of federal regulation, rule-making and reassurance followed the rail disaster last July that killed 47 people, destroyed dozens of buildings and contaminated waterways in a small Quebec town. Details here.

Can You Say "Climate Change?"

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by Larry Powell A sodden farm field near Neepawa, Manitoba. Another "severe weather event," this one a doozy, has just blown through my neck of the woods. Deluges of rain over a huge area of the Canadian prairies, driven by strong winds, have brought flooding, property damage and washed-out roads to scores of communities in Saskatchewan and Manitoba. It left power outages,  dangling live wires,  trees on top of cars, evacuations (including at least one hospital and one care home), flooded basements (including my brother's in Regina) and human misery, galore . Ditches and roads turned into rivers and farm fields into rice paddies. They were all part of a package deal included in slow-moving electrical storms that lasted for an agonizing three days or so, from west of Regina through to eastern Manitoba. The storms were made all the worse due to the extremely wet spring which preceded them. Already sodden ground left few places for the water to go. Waters of the

Manitoba Crop Report

Manitoba Co-Operator Many areas of Manitoba received significant amounts of rainfall over the weekend, adding to the rainfall already received over the past few weeks. Full story here.

Half of Emperor Penguins Could be 'Wiped Out by End of the Century' Due to Melting Sea Ice

The Independent  Global warming is melting sea ice so fast that more than half of Antarctica’s population of Emperor penguins are set to be wiped out by the end of the century, according to alarming new research saying they should be listed as an endangered species. Details here.

The Next Breadbasket

National Geographic Magazine She never saw the big tractor coming. First it plowed up her banana trees. Then her corn. Then her beans, sweet potatoes, cassava. Within a few, dusty minutes the one-acre plot near Xai-Xai, Mozambique, which had fed Flora Chirime and her five children for years, was consumed by a Chinese corporation building a 50,000-acre farm, a green-and-brown checkerboard of fields covering a broad stretch of the Limpopo River Delta. Details here.

"P in P" Promotes Canada's Chief Bee-Killer (CBK) - Ted Menzies, to CHIEF BIRD KILLER (CB&BK), as Well!

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by Larry Powell THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld Menzies (above) was a Conservative MP for about 10 years before being appointed early this year as President and CEO (AKA CBK) of Croplife Canada, an industry organization representing chemical giants like Bayer. Bayer makes "Neonicotinoids," the world's worst family of bee-killing pesticides.  CropLife is in the midst of a major lobbying and public relations campaign to prevent Canada from adopting a ban on the pesticides, action the European Union took more than a year ago. Dear old Ted will be based in Ottawa, where lobbying his old government buddies will come easy. This will help ensure that both the already fat bottom lines of the "Agri-Biz" corporations he now represents and the slaughter of our precious pollinators will continue!  Meanwhile, the Sierra Club Canada Foundation has asked the Ethics Commissioner to examine Menzies' appointment under the Conflict of Interest Act . According

New Tests Find Bee-Killing Pesticides in Over Half of “Bee-Friendly” Plants From Garden Centers Across U.S. and Canada

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Friends of the Earth Washington, D.C. – Many “bee-friendly” home garden plants sold at Home Depot, Lowe’s and Walmart have been pre-treated with pesticides shown to kill bees, according to a study released today by Friends of the Earth and allies. Details here. PLT photo. Related: Meet Canada's Chief Bee-Killer (CBK) - Ted Menzies