PLANET IN PERIL

FarmJournal’s PORK A Smithfield operation in Missouri. A Wikimedia photo.   A third lawsuit against Smithfield Foods had found the company guilty for “unreasonable nuisances they suffered from odors, flies and rumbling trucks.” A federal jury placed the fine at $473.5 million to six neighbors of pig farms. STORY HERE. Related:                                                                              "In Hogs We Trust"                                              A critique of hog industry expansion in Manitoba. Part 1 - Antibiotic Overuse. Part 11 - Government subsidies.   Part 111 - The consequences of animal diseases, worldwide. Part 1V - The environmental costs of an expanded hog industry in Manitoba. Part V - Who’s behind Manitoba’s drive to expand? Click here and find out! Is Manitoba's factory hog industry becoming its own worst enemy?

ComonDreams Sunset on the Canadian prairies. A PinP photo. One NOAA oceanographer warns that even if humanity "stopped the greenhouse gases at their current concentrations today, the atmosphere would still continue to warm for next couple decades to maybe a century." Story here.

The Battles  -  DISCUSSIONS BY SANDRA FINLEY USK refuses to disclose Right to Know symposium proceedings. More here.

ScienceNews King penguin chicks, South Georgia. by Butterly austral. It’s unclear what has happened to what was the largest of king penguin colonies in the 1980s .  Story here.

Back in 2001, Michele Merkel worked for the EPA. One of her first cases was with farmers who were suing mega-hog factory farms for polluting the community's air and water.  When the EPA sided with the giant corporations, she quit. Now Michele works at Food & Water Watch, fighting for laws and legislation that force our government and the EPA to protect your water, air and food from factory farms — as they are mandated to do. Check out Michele's TEDx Talk to hear her story and how you can fight with Michele against factory farms.

EcoWatch The  National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration  (NOAA)  released the results  of what it calls the "annual checkup for the planet" Wednesday, and the patient is not doing well. More here.

The Narwhal U.S. officials accused Canada of omitting information on selenium pollution flowing from B.C.’s Elk Valley into Montana waters. Story here.

Yale Environment 360 A new Canadian government-backed pipeline that will triple the amount of thick Alberta tar sands oil flowing to a British Columbia port poses significant risks for a threatened population of killer whales and other coastal marine life. Story here.

The Guardian The most populous region of the biggest polluter on Earth – China’s northern plain – will become uninhabitable in places if climate change is not curbed. Story here.

The Guardian A farm family is isolated by widespread flooding in Saskatchewan, Canada. Circa 2005. PinP photo. Prof Michael Mann declares the impacts of global warming are now ‘playing out in real-time.’   Story here.

Yale Environment 360 Producing charcoal in the rainforest. By User Kelberul on de.wikipedia  A growing body of evidence indicates that the continuing destruction of tropical forests is disrupting the movement of water in the atmosphere, causing major shifts in precipitation that could lead to drought in key agricultural areas in China, India, and the U.S. Midwest. Story here.