PLANET IN PERIL

Science Daily Ship traffic in the Suez Canal - 1957. Photo by  Buonasera Maritime trade is likely to far outweigh climate change as the driver of bio-invasions over the next 30 years,  study finds.

Decades of Canadian research, just released , finds "strong evidence" that increasing "freeze-thaw" cycles are destroying food the birds store away in the fall. This, in turn is damaging their ability to reproduce and likely playing a role in a severe population decline in at least one region. by Larry Powell   The grey jay,  AKA as Canada jay or "Whiskey-Jack." Photo by Steve Phillips, via  Canadian Geographic  magazine. It's been known for some time that our changing climate is leading to reductions, even entire removal of many species from certain areas (a process called "extirpation"). This new research by the University of Guelph, sheds more light on just how that happens.  Using 40 years of breeding data, scientists studied grey jays  (scientific name p erisoreus canadensis )   at the southern edge of their range in Algonquin Park, Ontario. (The birds can be found in all Canadian provinces and territorie

truthout A PinP photo. In a new report, scientists warn of a precipitous drop in the world’s insect population. We need to pay close attention, as over time, this could be just as catastrophic to humans as it is to insects. Special attention must be paid to the principal drivers of this insect decline, because while climate change is adding to the problem, food production is a much larger contributor. Story here.

The Guardian Just 90 minutes from Toronto, residents of a First Nations community try to improve the water situation as the beverage company extracts from their land. Story here .

Yale Environment 360 Massive open-pit coal mines in British Columbia are leaching high concentrations of selenium into the Elk River watershed, damaging fish populations and contaminating drinking water. Now this pollution is flowing across the Canadian-U.S. border, threatening the quality of U.S. waters. Story here.

National Observer Ponds in the Canadian Arctic, believed to be caused by melting of the permafrost. Photo by Steve Jurvetson Environmentalist and author Bill McKibben  calls climate change the most important issue facing the world today and likens the struggle against it to the Second World War. Story here.

PHYS ORG Trees downed in a fierce windstorm in Duck Mountain forest, Manitoba, Canada. A PinP photo. Canada is doing too little to combat climate change, a parliamentary report warned Tuesday, a day after government scientists warned the country was warming at twice the global rate. Story here.

UNIVERSITY OF OTTAWA A collapsed block of ice-rich permafrost in Alaska. Benjamin Jones, U.S. Geological Surve y Extremes of summer climate trigger thousands of thermokarst landslides (ones triggered by melting permafrost) in a High Arctic environment. Details here. (Includes a must-see video.) RELATED: Canada warming at twice the global rate, climate report finds  

Science Magazine An apple orchard in Quebec, Canada.  Photo by "Daniel Fafard ( Dreamdan )" Young apple trees have been inexplicably dying across the US and Canada.  Story here.

Dogwood The Mount Polley mine - Jul. 2014 - about a week before the infamous breach of its earthen containment dam. After the breach, massive amounts of wastewater surged into nearby creeks & lakes. Photos by NASA. Outdated laws, weak enforcement leave the public on the hook for cleanup.  Story here.

CBC News North shore of Lk. Superior. A Wikimedia photo. Report also predicts more severe algae blooms will increase water treatment costs. Story here.