PLANET IN PERIL

by Larry Powell Many of us would be surprised to hear that climate change actually played a role in the civil war in Syria, that disastrous conflict that has dragged on for five weary years now. But that’s precisely what the prestigious National Academy of Sciences in the US concluded in a report last year. A terrible drought ravaged that country for at least four years before the war began. It wiped out crops, forcing farm families into urban centres in a mass migration that greatly increased internal tensions. Keep in mind, Syria was already a country rife with poor governance and unsustainable farming and environmental policies.  Now, using evidence from tree rings covering the past thousand years, the Earth Institute at Columbia University has added some new perspectives. In a study just published in the “Journal of Geophysical Research,” it concludes with confidence, not only was this drought aggravated by our burning of fossil fuels, it was likely the worst in 900 ye

climate progress Since 2006, atmospheric levels of methane — a greenhouse gas 86 times more potent than carbon dioxide over a 20-year period — have steadily been on the rise . For years, scientists weren’t sure what was behind the rising levels of methane, but they had a few ideas: namely an increase in fossil fuel-related emissions. More here.

NATIONAL OBSERVER Environment and Climate Change Canada, has given the green light to the controversial Woodfibre LNG project , ruling on Friday that the proposal is "not likely to cause significant adverse environmental effects." More here.

Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy More than 400,000  turkies and chickens have been euthenized in massive animal factories in Indiana this past month. It's an attempt to contain a new strain of avian flu in the U.S. Last year, approximately 45 million birds were killed to contain the spread of a different avian flu strain in the U.S. These epidemics are not limited to poultry: two years ago, a massive piglet virus outbreak killed an estimated 10 percent of the U.S. hog population. More here.

ThePetitionSite Amazon regions of Peru have suffered several catastrophic oil spills since January this year. And due to Petroperu's failure to contain the spills, at least 3,000 barrels of oil have polluted two important rivers. According to Oil Change International , the Chiriaco and Morona rivers have been plagued by at least 11 oil spills since 2010. Please sign  here.

IRON EARTH -  Trades Workers for Renewable Energy We can create new jobs while reducing our impact.  DO YOU AGREE?

Greenpeace Canada For the first time in recorded history, perhaps the first time in the course of human history temperatures in the northern hemisphere passed 2 degrees C above ‘normal.'   More here.

Art by Mona Caron Add your name!

Greenpeace Canada People in the coastal town of Clyde River, Nunavut — one of the most remote communities in the world — are protesting dangerous oil exploration in their waters. They are taking legal action to protect Canada’s Arctic and the mammals that thrive there from seismic blasting and have just been granted leave to appeal at the Supreme Court of Canada. p style="margin:0px 0px 0px 38px;"> A five-year oil exploration project has been approved without Inuit consent off Clyde River’s coast, which allows seismic blasting — a process of firing loud sonic explosions through the ocean to find oil — as a first step towards dangerous Arctic oil drilling. But it’s not just the oil drilling that’s dangerous — these explosions can disrupt migration paths of marine animals like narwhals, belugas, and bowheads, sometimes causing permanent hearing loss, and in the worst case, even death. Join this brave community in their fight to protect their home and their trad

The Washington Post. PinP photo. Humans are making global warming worse, all right — but in more ways than you think. More here.

Manitoba Co-Operator Installing a solar watering system has increased carrying capacity, weight gain and improved herd health. More here.