PLANET IN PERIL

Winnipeg Free Press WINNIPEG - Green Party leader James Beddome wasn't the least bit subtle Wednesday about what he thinks of the Pallister government's red tape reduction bill. "This bill stinks!"  Beddome declared to a rally on the steps of the Manitoba legislature. "It's part of a Conservative agenda that tells us all regulation is bad," Beddome said. "Government efficiency means don't do our homework; if there's no data, there's no problem." Environmental activists led by the Wilderness Committee and Hog Watch Manitoba protested Bill 24, an omnibus bill going to public hearings sometime later this month, warning that within its reductions to regulations were changes that would allow the expansion of industrial hog barns that would further jeopardize the health of Lake Winnipeg. Speakers could not agree on  how many sets of regulations are threatened by red tape reduction - 12, 14, and 15 were all cited - bu

 by Larry Powell Three out of every four samples of honey tested in a global survey released this week, were tainted with  neonicotinoids,  the world's most widely-used insecticide. A five-member Swiss research team  tested almost two hundred honey samples from every continent except Antarctica (including several remote islands), for the five main compounds in the "neonic family" of pesticides (acetamiprid, clothianidin, imidacloprid, thiacloprid, and thiamethoxam). At least one  of those compounds was found  in 75%  of all samples tested. (Fourty-five percent contained two or more, while ten percent showed traces of four or five.) The levels detected were considered too low to pose a risk to people who actually eat honey. But, for adult bees, honey is their  only  food in winter and when flowers aren't blooming. While "neonics" may not always kill the pollinators outright, they've been shown to have "sub-lethal

The Red River Valley Echo MORRIS - They were at the forefront of one of Manitoba’s worst natural disasters, and 20 years later, municipal officials and provincial experts gathered in Morris to share their perspective of what became known as “The Flood of the Century”. Story here.

Nature|News Leading suspect — climate change — doesn’t fully explain what is happening to leatherback turtles in the US Virgin Islands. Story here. Little leatherbacks leave their nest in Aruba. Photo by  Elise Peterson

CBC news Commissioner Julie Gelfand says stronger leadership needed to move beyond ‘endless planning mode.’ Story here. PinP photo.

Please check out this brand new website from Hog Watch Manitoba to find out about the provincial governments disturbing plans for hog industry expansion and why you should care!

Nature Combination of satellite images and on-the-ground data enables more complete tracking of forest carbon flows. Story here. Peruvian rainforest. Roosevelt Garcia  at  English Wikipedia

the guardian Bigger livestock in larger numbers in more regions has led to methane in the air climbing faster than predicted due to ‘out-of-date data.’ Details here.

NATIONAL  OBSERVER This investigation is the first chapter in an  unprecedented series   investigating the power and influence of the oil and gas industry, and its impacts on Canadian communities. Story here. A Trans Canada Pipeline facility in Nebraska. shannonpatrick17 Nebraska, U.S.A.

CBCnews 4 chimney swift chicks were rehabilitated after falling from building at Lower Fort Garry. Story here. Other Swifts seen here in a chimney.  Photo by  Greg Schechter from San Francisco, USA

Nation of Change Living within a 1/2 mile of these production facilities is clearly correlated with negative health impacts. Story here. PinP photo.