PLANET IN PERIL

Are trees now passé in our modern agricultural landscape? Please check out my brief video, below on the era of crop "shelter belts," now disappearing from the scene. As always, you are urged to add your own two-bits worth in the comments section, below.

S ALON Stephen Hawking is one of many scientists who see the possible near-term demise of our species.  STORY HERE.

IPS News Urgent action is needed to save the lives of people facing famine in North Eastern Nigeria, Somalia, South Sudan and Yemen, the UN leading food and agriculture agency’s chief on April 28 warned. “If nothing is done, some 20 million people could starve to death in the next six months.” Story here. Africa is no stranger to famine.  70 children who died of malnutrition  are buried in this mass grave in the  east - 2011 . Photo by Oxfam.

by David Suzuki Grizzly bears venturing from dens in search of food this spring will face landscapes dominated by mines, roads, pipelines, clearcuts and ever-expanding towns and cities. As in years past, they'll also face the possibility of painful death at the hands of trophy hunters. Story here. US Forest Service photo.

iPOLITICS Ottawa won’t revisit delaying cuts to a troublesome greenhouse gas despite a report published today that claimed its emissions could be much worse than previously thought. Story here.

treehugger With much of the trail following the shoulders of busy highways, Edmund Aunger says the trail is dangerous and should not be promoted as a tourist attraction. Story her e. A cyclist take a break on a much safer section of the Trans Canada Trail in Manitoba. PinP photo.

Nation of Change Plains All American Pipeline has been behind at least 25 pipeline incidents in the state of Oklahoma since 2004, with more than half of them due to corrosion. Story here.

Portage La Prairie – Hog Watch Manitoba , a group formed in 1999 to monitor the hog industry in the province, is being reconvened due to public concerns. A steering committee has met in Portage La Prairie to make plans for the group’s current work. Many people have expressed alarm at plans by the Pallister government to lift the moratorium on new hog barns, imposed by the previous NDP government in 2006. They fear the Premier’s move to “reduce red tape” will lead to more pollution, threatening our waterways and even human health. Will government do away with rules preventing the spreading of manure on fields in the winter? Winter spreading has been shown to result in more waste escaping into surface water. In 2007, the Clean Environment Commission found that hog wastes spread on fields as a nutrient, “constitute the most serious environmental sustainability issues facing the industry.”   Hog Watch wants the government to explain what has changed since 2007 that would just

The Western Producer Farmers in certain areas of southern Manitoba need four to five weeks of ideal weather or they won’t be planting a crop this spring. Story here. Flooded farm fields near Portage La Prairie,   Manitoba. PinP photo.

SumOfUs Message body Larry, Today,  Rodrigo Tot and five other brave people from around the world were awarded the most prestigious environmental award in the world, the Goldman Environmental Prize (aka. the 'Green Nobel').  The award recognizes ordinary people like you who do extraordinary things to stand up to corporate power, often risking everything to keep their local communities and ecosystems safe from harm. In 2016, Peruvian farmer Máxima Acuña won the Goldman Prize for her tireless work stopping extractive giant Newmont Mining from building a gold mine in her backyard. Over 160,000 SumOfUs members have asked Newmont to leave Máxima alone after repeated harassment over the last two years. Together, we raised resources for her support and legal fund. And finally,  we all cheered and stood by Máxima as she won the award last year. Given SumOfUs’ mission is to fight for people over profits, we want to be the first to introduce you this year’s w

"Look at this, our food is laced with poison - exactly what we had been saying. Our industrial world is killing us. No wonder people are dying. The cost of doing mass production is our souls and health of our nations." This is Dave Daniels, Elder on Long Plain First Nation, Manitoba and specialist in wild plants and herbal medicines.  He was reacting to a recently-released finding  by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency. In studies conducted in '15 & '16, the federal food watchdog discovered traces of glyphosate, "a probable carcinogen," (World Health Organization) in almost 30% of food samples tested. To better understand Mr. Daniel's story and his anger, please watch the video, below.