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As Climate Crisis Intensifies, $300+ Billion in Damages Makes 2017 Costliest Year Ever

Common Dreams Experts say this "historic and unprecedented year of disastrous extremes" reinforces "the fact that climate change is a threat to our health, and also a threat to our economy." More here.

Scientists warn of vanishing oxygen in oceans, including Canadian waters

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NATIONAL OBSERVER A Mexican beach. PinP photo. Almost two dozen marine scientists from around the world have issued a warning about an often-overlooked side effect of climate change and pollution. Story here.

New Study Showing Ozone Recovery Hailed as Model for Tackling Climate Crisis

Common Dreams "We see very clearly that chlorine from CFCs is going down in the ozone hole, and that less ozone depletion is occurring because of it." More here.

Corals are severely bleaching five times as often as in 1980

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ScienceNews Bleached coral off Florida.  U.S. Geological Survey Warming tropical waters are largely responsible, researchers say . Story here.

Are some Manitoba media stifling dissent on the hog barn issue? One activist speaks out.

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John Fefchak of Virden (L.) has been a critic of the hog industry for years. An Air Force veteran now in his eighties, he writes many letters to the editor. They're often in a losing cause, and often at odds with the "pro-hog" editorial stance of many mainstream media. But neither circumstance nor time have deterred him. His letters drive home the wrong-headedness of politicians who "cheerlead" for an industry with so many downsides, including a propensity to pollute our precious waterways. Below is John's latest letter, telling of his experiences with the Sun, a daily newspaper in Brandon, Manitoba.   (PinP) ======= Is The Brandon Sun Newspaper Applying a Double Standard? On Nov. 14th, 2017, the Sun published yet another story about yet another hog producer complaining of being "hard done by." This after the Pallister government had already passed legislation recklessly slashing health and environmental protections, in order to pave t

Twenty-five percent of the earth could see a permanent drought by 2050

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Nation of Change If Earth’s temperature goes up by 2 degrees Celsius by 2050, more than one-quarter of the world would live in a state of drought. Story here. Parched ground in the southern US. 2011. Photo by Aljazeera English.

'Bomb Cyclone' Forecast to Hit East Coast. (US & Canada)

LIVE SCI=NCE Just when you thought the weather couldn't get worse, the Washington Post hits us with "bomb cyclone." That's right, forecasters suggest this "bomb" will make the U.S. East Coast unbearable for many. Story here.

Scientists Can Now Blame Individual Natural Disasters on Climate Change

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SCIENTIFIC   AMERICAN Hurricane Sandy - a Pexels photo. Extreme event attribution is one of the most rapidly expanding areas of climate science. STORY HERE.

A Dreadful Year-- Farewell 2017!

WORLD RESOURCES INSTITUTE The year we are leaving has been disastrous …  Literally  ... STORY HERE.

Surprising revelations about Canada's ice age past. What do they tell us about the present?

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SCIENCE MAGAZINE Western Canada shed its icy cover a thousand years earlier than previously thought, and the circumstances of the ancient glacial retreat can help understand present-day climate patterns. A new study provides the new glacial retreat timeline based on an analysis of moraine samples. Researchers collected samples of deposits that formed after the Cordilleran Ice Sheet, which covered large portions of western Canada, retreated. Using beryllium isotopes to date the samples, the authors found that the CIS may have in fact been largely melted by 14,000 years ago, while newer, smaller alpine glaciers sprung up in pockets between the newly-bared mountain peaks.  Researchers also used simulations to show how warm temperatures during the late Pleistocene era contributed to CIS's early retreat, which had, in turn, contributed to a significant rise in sea level at the time. According to the authors, CIS response to abrupt climate change could be a model for the

Ice Loss and the Polar Vortex: How a Warming Arctic Fuels Cold Snaps

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 inside climate  news The loss of sea ice may be weakening the polar vortex, allowing cold blasts to dip south from the Arctic, across North America, Europe and Russia, a new study says. Story here. A country road in Manitoba. PinP photo.