PLANET IN PERIL

Common Dreams “We hope to stay here indefinitely,” says activist. Details here.

The Hill Times online If the pharmaceutical giant succeeds, it will have effectively found a mechanism to override the Supreme Court of Canada and hold Canadian taxpayers liable for hundreds of millions in damages in the process. The cost to the health-care system could be enormous as the two Eli Lilly patents may be the proverbial tip of the iceberg and claims from other pharmaceutical companies could soon follow. Details here. Please also read: Free Trade: Path to Prosperity - or Back Road to Corporatism? - by Larry Powell

thestar.com Proposed answers from Environment Canada to questions about a 2013 oilsands leak triggered emails suggesting the department “limit information” given to media. Details here.

ClimateProgress Massive highway repair and infrastructure renewal in Manitoba (above),  clearly show the need for some sanity aimed at controlling emissions. PLT photo  Washington State is poised to join California and several Canadian provinces, including Manitoba, in a carbon trading system, according to a Monday memoranda from the governor’s office. Details here.

Is modern agriculture’s hold on nature becoming a death grip?  By Larry Powell Another insectivorous species in decline,  the  purple  martin. Are they becoming "neonic" victims, too? PinP  photo. This summer, the tragedy of dying pollinators took on a new dimension. A team of Dutch researchers found that, in addition to bees, “significant declines in populations of insect-eating birds are also associated with high concentrations of neonicotinoids.” “Neonics,” as they are commonly called, have become the most widely used group of insecticides in the world – and, the most infamous. As well as killing the crop pests they are supposed to, they’ve been implicated in the deaths of billions of honeybees from near and far, for well over a decade. The European Union even clamped a two-year moratorium on their use, last year. Various formulations of the chemical are made by multinational corporations like Bayer CropScience, Syngenta and Monsanto. They’re used as seed dress

Metro OTTAWA – Environmentalists and legal experts are criticizing the federal government’s decision to leave toxic fracking chemicals off a list of pollutants going into Canada’s air, land and water. Full story here.

IPS Inter Press Service UXBRIDGE, Canada  - Extreme poverty and hunger can be eliminated, but only through far greater efforts to reduce carbon emissions that are overheating the planet and producing punishing droughts, catastrophic floods and ever wilder weather, said climate activists involved in talks to set the Sustainable Development Goals . Details here.

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.