PLANET IN PERIL

Damaged buildings in Hull, Québec three days after the tornado. Photo by  Roc 1981 . INCHEON, Republic of Korea, 8 Oct - Limiting global warming to 1.5oC would require rapid, far- reaching and unprecedented changes in all aspects of society, the IPCC said in a new assessment. Details here.

by Larry Powell Below is a copy of an e-mail I just sent to Chris Hall, host of the CBC Radio program, "The House." It concerns an interview he did this morning with Manitoba's Premier, Brian Pallister on the Premier's move to withdraw from the federal carbon tax plan. If you didn't hear it, Pallister announced to the world that a carbon tax is not needed in Manitoba because both he and his government are already green! Manitoba Premier, Brian Pallister. Photo by grainnews.ca Hi Chris! I'm a native Manitoban who has, as a journalist, researcher and citizen, long been immersed in the politics of this province. I could hear the lies dripping from Premier Pallister's mouth as you interviewed him on the carbon tax this morning. His assertion that both he and Manitoba are already green, comes less than a year after his government slashed important legislation. It once provided us with a measure of health and environmental protection from the mass polluti

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!

Mother Jones ...and not regular temperature variations or responses to natural climate change.   More here. Mt. Herschel, Antarctica, with a penguin colony in the foreground, 2006. Photo by  Andrew Mandemaker.

Read an alternative version here.  Also.... "In Hogs We Trust."   A critique of Manitoba’s “runaway” hog industry. Part 1 - Antibiotic Overuse. Part 11 - The price we pay for corporate pig$.   Part 111 - From Malaysia to Manitoba - the global magnitude of livestock diseases. Part 1V - The health and environmental costs of an expanded hog industry. Part V - What’s behind Manitoba’s drive to expand?