PLANET IN PERIL

The Tyee                                 Bighorn country, eastern slopes, AB. Photo by Aerin Jacob Approving the Grassy Mountain Coal Project will surely spell nothing less than the industrialization of Alberta’s sensitive eastern slopes.  Story here.

The National Observer A PinP photo. After years of review, Ottawa recently approved a common class of pesticides known to harm pollinators like bees and other insects. Story here. RELATED:  Plight of the Humble Bee. Canadian regulators refuse to protect precious pollinators from known toxins.

University of British Columbia The Chinook salmon. Photo by Zureks. The virus known as PRV, is associated with kidney and liver damage in Chinook salmon.  A new study in Science Advances shows -- it's continually being transmitted between open-net salmon farms and wild juvenile Chinook salmon in British Columbia waters. The study traces its origins to Atlantic salmon farms in Norway and finds that the virus is now almost ubiquitous in salmon farms in B.C. It also shows that wild Chinook salmon are more likely to be infected with PRV the closer they are to salmon farms, which suggests farms transfer the virus to wild salmon. Genome sequencing of viruses from farms and wild fish further indicates that transmission occurs between farms and wild salmon. "Both our genomic and epidemiological methods independently came to the same conclusion, that salmon farms act as a source and amplifier of PRV transmission," said Dr. Gideon Mordecai, a viral ecologist and Liber Ero fellow wi

CBC News Millions of sows like this spend much of their lives in tiny torture chambers, euphemistically called "gestation crates." A Mercy for Animals photo. Province says law addresses biosecurity concerns, but animal rights lawyer disputes that claim. Story here. RELATED: "Confronting blatant propaganda from Manitoba's industrial livestock sector."

 The Washington Post A lagoon waste management system for a 900 head hog farm in Georgia.  Photo by Jeff Vanuga, USDA The first-of-its-kind report pinpoints meat production as the leading source of deadly pollution. Story here.

Below 2C The Koch fertilizer plant in Brandon, Manitoba, CA has, since at least 2004, been listed by "Climate Change Connection" as the worst "large final emitter" in this province. “LFEs” are industries or landfills which spew at least 50 thousand tonnes of C02 equivalent into the air annually. Latest figs. show the Koch plant released almost 800 thousand tonnes in 2018. (A PinP  photo.) More people die every year from fossil fuel pollution than have died from COVID-19 since the outbreak in early 2020. According to new research, 8.7 million died prematurely in 2018—more than 18% of the entire global death toll for the year. And while the daily media coverage of the pandemic is on every news feed 24/7, pollution-caused deaths remain largely unnoticed. Details here.

by Larry Powell I feel I must respond to a column now appearing in some weeklies in Manitoba, (See bottom)  “Agriculture, environment and animal care.” Cam Dahl, Apologist-in-Chief for Manitoba Pork. What a masterful piece of propaganda from Cam Dahl, GM of Manitoba Pork, the official mouthpiece of an industry that’s become a runaway train in this province!  He commits so many sins of omission, trying to convince us of the industry's environmental virtues, Lucifer himself must be blushing! For example; Recent tests done for the global c harity, World Animal Protection, have found “superbug” genes developing in waterways around large pig barns in this province.  This is huge. Why?  Because, while we already know people can ingest superbugs either by coming in close contact with infected animals or eating the meat, this surely reveals a previously unknown pathway these harmful organisms can follow to invade our lives.  It surely makes those who eat fish from the contaminated water