PLANET IN PERIL

Expectant Moms spend their pregnancies in heartless, confining steel crates. PLEASE SIGN!

Common Dreams Bumble bees forage on chives in an organic garden in Manitoba, CA. PinP photo. "Authorizing neonicotinoids during a quarter of a century was a mistake and led to an environmental disaster. Today's vote is historic." More here.

WHAT WILL BILL 19 MEAN FOR RURAL MANITOBA?  Photo - Mercy for Animals, Canada. It is a series of changes to allow two hog processing corporations Maple Leaf and HyLife Foods, to increase their shareholder profits at the expense of rural homeowners, taxpayers, family farms, degraded air, environment, water quality and pig welfare. Why Bill 19? The Manitoba Department of Agriculture advised the Pallister cabinet in a 2017 internal brief that 285 more new barns were needed to “ensure an adequate supply of hogs to the Maple Leaf and HyLife Food slaughter facilities.” And, that “public conflict,” “public pressure” and the locally controlled conditional use approval process are in the way of “growth of the industry.” How will Bill 19 help the hog industry expand? Bill 19 will silence the public. It will allow municipal leaders to get rid of conditional use hearings and Provincial Technical Reviews for factory hog barns. If local politicians take this route, the P

EcoWatch  North Polar flight with Air Berlin: Pole overflight (Photographer: Basti, Editor: Hedwig) Scientists found record levels of  microplastics  in  Arctic   sea ice , a study published Tuesday in  Nature Communications  revealed. More here.

The Guardian A ring-necked pheasant on the Canadian Prairies. Will they be next? PinP photo. The experimental study is the first to directly show harm to songbirds, extending the known impacts of neonicotinoids beyond insects. More here. RELATED:  "New Studies Show Farm Chemicals Are Affecting More Than Bees. Bird Populations are Declining, Too.Is modern agriculture's hold on nature becoming a death grip?"

National Observer A devastating wildfire near Fort MacMurray, Alberta, Photo by  DarrenRD Large portions of Canada’s vast boreal forest could be at risk of dying off by the end of the century, as climate change will dramatically aggravate the risk of wildfires, drought and insect infestations, say government scientists in a groundbreaking new study. More here. RELATED:  Only “Heroic Efforts” Will Spare Earth’s Mighty Boreal Forest From the Worst Ravages of Climate Change - Experts .

UN News Rohingya refugees in a camp in Bangladesh. Photo by  Zlatica Hoke ( VOA ) The arrival of pre-monsoon rains in southern Bangladesh has revealed an alarming level of risks for Rohingya refugees, United Nations humanitarian agencies said on Friday, warning that they do not  have the funds needed to protect hundreds of thousands of desperate people once the rainy season begins in earnest. More here.

DeSmogCanada A pipeline owned by Paramount Resources Ltd. released an estimated 100,000 litres of crude oil and 190,000 litres of produced water near Zama City, in northwest Alberta, according to an April 11 incident report filed with the  Alberta Energy Regulator . Details here.

TheGuardian The energy-friendlly agenda inside Trump's iinterior department is revealed in rccords obtained by the Guardian and the watchdog groups, Documented and the Western Values Project.    More here.

the defenders while protecting their community’s land or natural resources...read about it here.

CommonDreams Bleached coral.  Global warming, researchers warn, "is rapidly emerging as a universal threat to ecological integrity and function." More here.