PLANET IN PERIL

The Washington Post. A much-awaited report from the U.N.'s top climate science panel will show an enormous gap between where we are and where we need to be to prevent dangerous levels of warming. Story here. Hurricane Florence. NASA

The New York Times The Trump administration has completed its plan to roll back major offshore-drilling safety regulations that were put in place after the Deepwater Horizon oil rig disaster in 2010 that killed 11 people and caused the worst oil spill in American history. Story here. The Deepwater Horizon oil slick from space. Photo by NASA.

The Guardian International agreement will protect vast areas of sea that have opened up as the ice melts . Story here.  Fishboats in Norway. Photo by Kristian Magnus Kenstad.

Greenpeace -   More here. Poster by Jessica - NOAA marine debris program.

folio New research from University of Alberta ecologists show "mineral weathering" can be a significant contributor to Arctic climate change.  More here. Melting permafrost in Alaska. Photo by the US Geological Survey.

The Guardian Banned PCB chemicals are still severely harming the animals - but the Arctic could be a refuge.  More here. An orca breaches. Photo by  H. Zell.

By Larry Powell Hogwatch Manitoba says a large pig barn in the RM of Yellowhead in the southwest, has been operating illegally   since last year. This is the barn in question, 5k east of the village of Strathclair. Photo by Larry Powell. Ruth Pryzer presented Hogwatch’s case to the Yellowhead council  this week. She claimed the barn  owner, Wim Verbruggen, misled  the local government when he applied for a building permit early  last year. She says the barn he built was three thousand square feet bigger than  he said it would be. And it houses many more animals than  the fewer than 300 he claimed it would. The Planning Act which existed at the  time, required that a barn such as the one now up  and running, have  both a “conditional use” hearing and  a technical review.  Neither of  these actually took place.  The lack of a hearing meant there was no chance  for anyone in the area to express concerns or perhaps of even finding out about it, beforehand!