PLANET IN PERIL

CBC NEWS Fish caught in Manitoba's three largest lakes have a "do not buy" rating from the sustainable fisheries organization SeaChoice. STORY HERE.

bilateral.org PinP  photo During the secret negotiations of the free trade agreement between the European Union and Canada known as CETA, the European Commission always maintained that water would be excluded from the treaty, and that the choice on how to manage services related to the production and distribution of drinking water by the public authorities would not be questioned. But a careful reading of the consolidated text of CETA shows that the reality is different. Details here.

theguardian In a country where only 40% of people have access to grid electricity, the government is looking to sunshine to power health centres and homes. Story here.

Chris Hedges If there is no sustained uprising to prevent the passage of the TPP in Congress this spring we will be shackled by corporate power. Wages will decline. Working conditions will deteriorate. Unemployment will rise. Our few remaining rights will be revoked. The assault on the ecosystem will be accelerated. Banks and global speculation will be beyond oversight or control. Food safety standards and regulations will be jettisoned. Story here.

by George Monbiot The UK’s national parks should be redesignated as ecological disaster zones. A lecture to the UK National Parks conference, by George Monbiot, 14th October 2015 This is my ferocious attack on the dire state of the UK’s national parks, and my ideas for how they could be improved. (See Video, below.)

theguardian  The blaze, which has burned for two months on indigenous land and spread across 100km at its peak, is suspected to have been started by illegal loggers. Story here.