PLANET IN PERIL

The following letter by Jon Crowson appeared recently in the Empire Advance, a weekly newspaper in Virden, Manitoba.  It's his response to an article which appeared earlier in the same paper (see bottom). Hog Barn Saturation. Thanks for the primer on the provinces hog industry (Empire Advance, June 4, 2021). Frankly I’m not sure I really needed one. This map, from the industry itself, shows hog barn locations as they were n 2007. How many are enough? When the big guns from Manitoba Pork seek a meeting with council (even if they don’t have to leave their own boardroom to do it), one can’t help but be suspicious about their motives. Could it be that recent decisions, such as Cartwright-Roblin council to reject a new barn proposal, has got them worried? Worried that the tide is turning against the takeover of our rural areas by “Big Pork”. When it comes to new factory hog barn proposals the concerns of nearby residents cover the gamut from the stink (sufficient to breech the Internati

PHYS ORG The conversion of forests into agriculture has been flagged as one of the major causes of deforestation. A PinP photo. The world is at a crossroads, as humanity tries to mitigate climate change and halt biodiversity loss, while still securing a supply of food for everyone. Story here. RELATED: Illegal clearing by agribusiness driving rainforest destruction

                                                       PHYS ORG A "zombie" (peat) fire in the Arctic. Photo by Western Arctic National Parklands.   Carbon loss in Canadian peatland is projected to increase by 103 percent under a high emission scenario, according to new research led by scientists from the University of Waterloo. Story here.

Leibniz  Forschungsverbund Berlin .V. A PinP p hoto. Global warming is increasing the temperatures of lakes worldwide – are species finding the temperatures they need to survive? Details here.

The National Observer Trouble’s brewing for RBC. Canada’s climate movement is converging on the bank as its common target for pressure campaigns.   Details here. RELATED: How Ethical are Ethical Funds?   "Conscientious" investments & the tar sands connection.

Policy Options   Oil pipe sits on a railway siding in SW Manitoba. A PinP photo. If Alberta’s policy-makers don’t plan for a managed fossil fuel decline, financial and other institutions will make the decision for them.   Story here.

The Guardian A  seeder at work in Manitoba, CA. A PinP photo. Soils provide 95% of all food but are damaged by industrial, farming, mining and urban pollution.  Story here.

Nature Clear Lake, Manitoba, CA. A PinP photo. Widespread, long-term declines in temperate lake oxygen levels have been reported in Nature this week. This trend, calculated for nearly 400 lakes within an 80-year period, may be linked to warming temperatures and decreasing water clarity. The declines could threaten essential lake ecosystems. The concentration of dissolved oxygen in aquatic systems can affect the balance of nutrients, biodiversity, the quality of drinking water and greenhouse gas emissions. While oxygen loss in oceans has been documented, the changes in dissolved oxygen concentrations in lakes are less well understood, in part owing to a lack of long-term and large-scale studies. Kevin Rose and authors measured temperature and dissolved oxygen levels for almost 400 lakes (mostly in Europe and the United States) between 1941 and 2017. Declines in dissolved oxygen are up to nine times greater than those observed in the oceans.  Increased water temperatures are associat

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