PLANET IN PERIL

The Hill Changes in the earth's climate are increasing at a steady rate, NOAA warned Thursday in a new report.  Read more here. Summer - 2014. This record flood in Brandon, MB shows a single street re-inforced by a dam, holding back water from a major shopping centre consisting of billions of dollars worth of big-box stores and merchandise in Manitoba's 2nd-biggest city. ( PLT photo.) Related: " Global Surface Temperatures Poised To Rise Rapidl y"

Wall Street Journal Prime Minister Tony Abbott pledged to get rid of the tax last year. Full story here. Climate thug Abbott (r.). Credit; Associated Press.

While talk of jobs and economy have reverberated through the media coverage of our Premiere’s recent throne speech, the province’s significant protected areas announcement has yet to draw the attention it deserves. With the recent discovery of hugely significant polar bear denning areas near Manitoba’s Hudson Bay coast, the province announced a plan to begin consultation on the creation of a provincial park to protect these iconic animals.

Dear Editor, As a member of the Green Party, I'd like to invite two prominent Conservatives in my area, Ken Waddell, the publisher of the Neepawa Banner (formerly the Mayor) and Robert Sopuck, my Member of Parliament, to join the "Greens!" I was delighted, Mr. Waddell, to read your recent column, supporting (or, at least inviting a debate on) a guaranteed minimum income, as embodied in the successful "Mincome" pilot project in Dauphin back in the 70s. It so happens my party has endorsed such a policy for years. I actually wrote a paper for the Green Party of Manitoba myself a few years ago, detailing the success of "Mincome" and pointing out what a "win-win" effort it was, enriching the lives of many poor and disadvantaged people in just about every way that counted. And I don't think we need to agonize over how to pay for it. 

The First Perspective It is the first report of its kind to draw an associations between oil sands produced environmental contaminants and declines in community health and well-being in Fort Chipewyan, Alberta.  Details here.

Fossil Free Geneva, Switzerland - 11 July - The Central Committee of the World Council of Churches ( WCC ), a fellowship of over 300 churches which represent some 590 million people in 150 countries, endorsed fossil fuel divestment this week, agreeing to phase out its own holdings and encourage its members to do the same. The WCC Central Committee is made up of dozens of influential religious leaders from around the world, meaning the decision could resonate far and wide. Full story here.

TheGuardian As early as 2018, solar could be economically viable to power big cities. By 2040 over half of all electricity may be generated in the same place it's used. Centralised, coal-fired power is over. Full story here. PLT photo.

By Chris Hedges  - Truthdig BOSTON—On Saturday I went to one of the massive temples across the country where we celebrate our state religion. Full story here.

I wrote this story almost three years ago. I am re-posting it because a flood similar to the "one-in-300 year-kind" we had in 2011 - in Manitoba - is happening again THREE YEARS LATER! I continue to be struck by how little things change. So-called leaders (and ordinary people) remain in a stupor - an unexplained state of mass delusion and denial - approaching our climate crisis from every direction but a rational one.  A number of scenarios outlined below have now changed, but the general sentiment remains. ============ by Larry Powell If a shrink were to examine the brains of North America's political leaders, what do you suppose she would find? What parts of what lobes would be addressing the cataclysmic changes our planet's climate is undergoing? Are the neurons of these leaders' brains actually transmitting, making them aware that Earth is going through a monumental crisis that needs their immediate attention? Or are they somehow

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.

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