PLANET IN PERIL

New research  suggests that pollution may be playing a bigger and more ominous role in pushing many of Canada's plants and animals to the brink than earlier thought. by Larry Powell                                               One of the species at risk, the small white lady's slipper,  Cypripedium candidum.  Photo by Mason Brock . Habitat loss, climate change and invasive species are often referred to as significant players in Earth's calamitous descent into a sixth Great Extinction. While those factors obviously play a part, this new study better recognizes the magnitude of the role played by yet another culprit in the piece - pollution. The authors of the research label contamination of our air, soil and water as a "pervasive, often invisible threat to biodiversity in Canada."  And, up until now, the threat it poses, especially to vascular plants (ones that flower, bear fruit and seed), they suggest, has been underestimated by experts in the

National Observer This PinP photo was taken along a highway construction project in SK. There are already two Canadas when it comes to climate pollution, and they've been heading in opposite directions for years. A successful "Wexit" would split them into two separate countries: One would become the world's most climate polluting country per person, with an economy twice as dirty as China's. Story here.

CBC News Syrian & Iraqi refugees. Photo by Ggia. One expert calls findings of 3.2 C warming 'terrifying.’ Story here.

WORLD METEOROLOGICAL ORGANIZATION Sunset over Manitoba. A PinP photo. Levels of heat-trapping greenhouse gases in the atmosphere have reached another new record high, according to the World Meteorological Organization.  Story here.

ScienceNews Map: Distribution of Rangifer tarandus (Caribou/Reindeer) TBjornstad Newly-recorded oral histories of the Tsaatan people help researchers document climate change.  Story here.