PLANET IN PERIL

The Guardian A narrows in the Meykong - Laos. Photo by Hector Garcia. Government-commissioned report says proposed site is the ‘worst possible place’ for hydropower due to impact on wildlife. More here. RELATED: " Mekong - a River Rising. "

The Guardian The Porcupine herd on its home range - the Alaskan National Wildlife Refuge. It's feared the decision last year by the U.S. Senate to allow oil drilling there will disrupt and endanger the herd, considered the largest and healthiest on the continent. Photo by U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service.  Oil extraction in Alaskan wilderness area would be an ‘irresponsible business decision’, trillion-dollar investors say. More here. RELATED: "Oil drilling threatens yet another caribou herd" - by Larry Powell.

NATIONAL  OBSERVER In Iqaluit, the capital of Nunavut, a good home is hard to find.  More here. NASA Earth Observatory images by Jesse Allen, using Landsat data from the U.S. Geological Survey. The walls of this immense Siberian crater are more than 85 meters tall in places.  Batagaika Crater has formed as rising temperatures have thawed the permafrost in Siberia. Warmer summers and shorter winters are causing the frozen layer cake of ice and soil to collapse (or “slump”) and erode away in much of the Arctic. 

RODALE INSTITUTE A behind the scenes look at the Rodale Institute Organic Hog Facility with Farm Manager Ross Duffield. More here.

Yale Environment 360 Drift ice in the  archipelago of Svalbard. Photo by  AWeith   The “Atlantification” and “Pacification” of the Arctic has begun. As warmer waters stream into an increasingly ice-free Arctic Ocean, new species — from phytoplankton to whales — have the potential to upend this sensitive polar environment. More here.

ScienceDaily A PinP photo. Beavers could help clean up polluted rivers and stem the loss of valuable soils from farms, new research shows.   More here.

NATIONAL OBSERVER An investigation by Joel Ballard indicates there is reason to believe that's exactly what Canada has done. More here. The Deepwater Horizon.  Photo by the US Coast Guard.

TheConversation The plan to build a massive hydropower dam in Sumatra as part of China’s immense  Belt and Road Initiative  threatens the habitat of the rarest ape in the world, which has only 800 remaining members. More here. Photo by   Tim Laman

ScienceNews Two "big rigs" ready to begin work in western Manitoba. PinP photo. Agroecology is a better alternative than large-scale agriculture, both for the climate and for small farmers in Sub-Saharan Africa, according to researcher. This agricultural model preserves biodiversity and safeguards food supply while avoiding soil depletion. More here.

EcoWatch

WinnipegFreePress                                             A Pineland Forest Nursery photo. The provincial government is selling a massive tree-growing operation near Hadashville that produces and stores seeds for every type of tree grown in Manitoba. More here.