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Unsettling currents: Warm water flowing beneath Antarctica’s ’Doomsday Glacier'

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Science Daily The calving front of Thwaites Ice Shelf looking at the ice below the water's surface as seen from the NASA DC-8 on Oct. 16, 2012.  Data from underneath Thwaites Glacier, also known as the Doomsday Glacier. Story here.

Is Canada’s hog industry doing its part to counter antibiotic resistance, now considered a world health crisis? The most recent “report card” available seems to say, “no!”

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by Larry Powell Prairie producers were feeding more antibiotics to their pigs in 2018 than 2017.  Antibiotics have been bestowing a world of good on the human condition ever since - and even before - Alexander Fleming discovered the most famous one - penicillin - almost a century ago. Thanks to their ability to counter deadly infections - life expectancies have increased dramatically - and millions of lives have been saved - truly a turning point in the history of mankind.  But storm clouds have been gathering over this “age of enlightenment” for some time now. It’s called “Antimicrobial resistance.” AMR happens when antibiotics are used too much, or for the wrong reasons. This does happen when treating people. However, as our own Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) makes clear, the real story lies elsewhere. “There’s increasing evidence,” PHAC warns on its website, “that the use of antimicrobial agents in veterinary medicine and livestock production is an important contributing fact

'Silent superbug killers in a river near you,' including Spain, the US, Thailand and Manitoba, Canada.

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World Animal Protection    Public waterways next to industrial farms in Manitoba contain antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) that are dangerous to public health says a report from the global charity World Animal Protection.  The report is the first multi-country investigation of its kind.  Farmer Jeff Linton of Linton Pasture Pork, a high welfare farm in Ontario inspects one of his piglets. He is against all forms of industrial farming practices, including overcrowding animals which can cause stress and sickness leading to routine antibiotic use for disease prevention. World Animal Protection applauds farmers like Jeff who put the welfare of the animals first. Credit: Nina Devries/World Animal Protection Date: August 2019. (CNW Group/World Animal Protection) ARGs should be of concern because they are the building blocks for "superbugs" (bacteria that have developed resistance to one or more antibiotics).  This means those antibiotics will be less or ineffective in treating inf

WHAT GOES ON ON THE HIGH SEAS? "SEASPIRACY" PROVIDES AN INSIGHT. AND IT WILL SHOCK Y0U.

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Evidence of Antarctic glacier's tipping point confirmed

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Science Daily The Pine Island ice shelf - Antarctica. Photo credit - NASA ice. Researchers have confirmed for the first time that Pine Island Glacier in West Antarctica could cross tipping points, leading to a rapid and irreversible retreat which would have significant consequences for global sea level. Story here.

Health Canada approves another product known to be deadly to beneficial organisms.

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The Western Producer Members of the "neonic" family are known mass-killers, esp. of pollinators such as honeybees. "Karen" holds dead bees at Hayes Valley Farm. Health Canada’s Pest Management Regulatory Agency has announced that neonicotinoid insecticides are not a threat to aquatic insects when used as a seed treatment on canola and in many other instances. Details here.

Climate change means even parts of Canada will need to prepare for stronger hurricanes, report suggests

CBC News Researchers say governments need to begin adapting now to the new reality. Story here.

A third of global farmland at 'high' pesticide pollution risk

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PHYS ORG A public domain photo. A third of the planet's agricultural land is at "high risk" of pesticide pollution from the lingering residue of chemical ingredients that can leach into water supplies and threaten biodiversity, according to research published Monday. Story here.

Ag-gag laws make matters worse for hogs

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By: Vicki Burns and Brittany Semeniuk Winnipeg Free Press - OPINION Sows confined to steel "gestation crates," a common practise in the industry. "Ag-gag" legislation is silently sweeping across the nation, and both Hog Watch Manitoba and the Winnipeg Humane Society have serious concerns. The term "ag-gag" refers to any piece of legislation which stifles the ability of concerned civilians to document and report animal cruelty and abuse inflicted upon farm animals. On March 10, the Manitoba government publicly released Bill 62 and Bill 63, which seek to make it illegal for Manitobans to not only document farm animals during transportation, but to bear witness to all livestock (including horses) in transport trucks, production facilities and slaughterhouses. Factory-style hog barns that are dominating the hog industry now are a far cry from the family farms that many of the public still envision. The pigs are never outside, but are constantly confined in lar

The Science world mourns the loss of David Schindler, the Scientific Giant Who Defended Fresh Water

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THE TYEE David Schindler. Photo credit - Science Magazine. Among the world’s greatest ecologists, his boreal research has touched all of our lives. Story here.

Do ethics matter? Apparently, in the murky world of industrial livestock, not so much...

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What makes our industrial livestock sector tick?  A sincere desire to feed a hungry world? A commitment to do so in a way that doesn't damage Earth's delicate life support systems? A devotion to the humane treatment of animals? An innate duty to produce a product that's safe for all of us to eat?  Or are there darker forces at play? by Larry Powell Photo credit - FAO Flying in the face of warnings from the world’s top medical authorities, intensive livestock producers, from Manitoba to Manchuria, continue to give enormous amounts of antibiotics to their herds. This overuse (sometimes in humans, but overwhelmingly in animals raised for food) is contributing to the growth of “antimicrobial resistance” or AMR. These are “superbugs” which can no longer be controlled by the best, front-line antibiotics we can throw at them.  Many of these “miracle drugs,” are critical in the treatment of deadly human infections. Few, if any alternatives are available. And, partly because hardly