Larry Powell - OnEarth Magazine, from NRDC

Plight of the Humble Bee

Could half of our food supply actually be at risk now? by Larry Powell - No. 15 '09
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It seems that the news about disappearing bees isn't that bad after all.
It's worse!
(bee photo by l.p.)
While the sad state of honeybees worldwide has now been well-documented, much less attention has been paid to their ungainly cousins, the bumblebees!
They, too are declining at an alarming rate and have been for at least a decade, possibly longer! But only recently have details of their predicament begun to emerge.

A Bee's Plea:

I am a bumblebee. I'm an excellent pollinator of many different kinds of ...read full post

Comments (0) | November 19, 2009
Louisiana Pacific Relents on Plant Inspection by Outside Experts - But Will There be One?

Louisiana Pacific Canada Ltd. has apparently had a change of heart. Initially, the company refused to allow an inspection of its wood products plant in the Swan Valley of western Manitoba by outside experts. But after a request from the Clean Environment Commission CEC, (an advisory body to the provincial government, it has agreed.
But only with strict conditions attached.
* LP must be given 5 business days advance notice.
* All those taking part must identify themselves with valid IDs in advance.
* The tour must be limited to six people.
* No photographs or recordings will be allowed.
* Participants must undergo a safety orientation.
* They must sign a waiver in order to get into the plant's production areas.
* The company will not answer any technical questions because "all pertinent technical information is already on the public record."
LP agreed after the Clean Environment ...read full post

Comments (0) | September 1, 2009
Battle in the Boreal-- Rekindling the Air Pollution Debate

Public meetings in Manitoba, Canada later this month will revisit the explosive issue of pollution controls at a big wood products plant in the Swan Valley.

Just as they were in the mid-'90s, battle lines are drawn between environmentalists, the US-based Louisiana Pacific Corporation (LP) and the Government of Manitoba.

That's because LP wants to permanently shut down the devices which control most toxic emissions from its plant, called "regenerative thermal oxidizers" or RTOs.

Manitoba's Minister of Conservation, Stan Struthers, quietly gave it permission to do so, temporarily, last January.

Struthers has since instructed the Clean Environment Commission (CEC), an arms-length advisory agency, to determine whether a permanent shutdown is justified.

Whether temporary or permanent, members of the environmental group, "Concerned Citizens of the Valley" are angry. One of them, Margaret Romak, notes that it ...read full post

Comments (0) | July 20, 2009
Chemical Giants, Regulators and Governments Fiddle While Honeybees Burn

As many of you know, populations of honeybees have, in recent years, been tragically and "mysteriously" disappearing around the world.
I say "mysteriously" with some sarcasm, because pesticides are already known to be one of the factors. Yet, instead of removing these known toxins from the market, ever-more harmful ones are, shamefully, being approved!
Not only do the bees produce our honey, they are our most important pollinators, responsible for the production of up to one-third of the human food supply!
Despite countless studies into the phenomenon, which has been dubbed "Colony Collapse Disorder," nothing is being done and the bees continue to disappear.
So I'm not really optimistic for the future of these wondrous creatures.
Why? Because we have now let harmful chemicals insinuate themselves so completely into our lives, we can no longer separate reality from industry or government hype.
Some Manitoba ...read full post

Comments (2) | April 10, 2009
Top Canadian Scientist Has Sober Climate Findings

A distinguished climate scientist says an unforeseen phenomenon is quickly eroding the Greenland Ice Sheet.
David Barber is the Canada Research Chair in Arctic System Science at the University of Manitoba and leader of the largest polar project in the world, studying climate change in the Arctic.
Prof. Barber says many scientists have believed the sheet is simply melting as global warming takes its toll.
What is actually happening is, torrents of melt-water on the surface are finding their way down, through fissures, to the bottom.
There, they act as a "lubricants," breaking the ice apart and causing it to, as he puts it, to "calve" many small icebergs into the ocean at a rapid rate.

Barber believes the icebergs sliding into the sea in this way, could raise sea levels by as much as 6 meters. That's enough, he warns, to damage several large coastal cities!

He further predicts summer sea ice could be completely gone from ...read full post

Comments (1) | March 23, 2009
It's Global Warming, Stupid!

So I hear another flood "of biblical proportions" could be headed Manitoba-way!
A swollen Red River already has officials in North Dakota and even our province on high alert.
Word is this one could be as bad or even worse, (if that's possible) than the one in '97 that brought tragedy and grief to both farms and small towns in the flood plain.
They called the one back then "the worst of the century," following what had been "the worst blizzard of all-time." (Or was it the other way around?)
Whichever the case, it makes me feel like screaming, "It's climate change, stupid!"
What is it going to take for you politicians and you, "average Joes" to wake up from your stupor and see the light? (That industry and big corporations do nothing, is no surprise. I expect better of you.)
As you watch growing evidence of the climate crisis unfold all around you, you remain in a state ...read full post

Comments (3) | March 17, 2009
U.S. Logging Giant Scraps Pollution Controls in Manitoba

Over the Christmas holidays, the Government of Manitoba quietly agreed to let the Louisiana Pacific Corporation (LP), with extensive forestry operations in North America, shut down pollution control equipment at one of its wood products plants in the west-central part of the province.
As a result, many emissions such as benzene, formaldehyde and hydrogen cyanide, have apparently been escaping into the air since January at its “oriented strand board” (OSB) plant near Minitonas in the SwanValley. (OSB is a building product similar to plywood made mostly from poplar tree fiber.)
Now, LP wants to keep that equipment shut down, permanently. Much to the chagrin of environmental groups, the Government is considering that request.
Ironically, it was the New Democratic Opposition Party, now the government, that insisted that the equipment, called “regenerative thermal oxidizers,”(RTOs) be installed when LP was first issued its Manitoba license back in the ...read full post

Comments (2) | March 12, 2009
Lament for the Honeybee

As this priceless pollinator vanishes from the face of the earth, North American regulators refuse to protect it from a known toxin
The crop chemical clothianidin, approved almost five years ago by the Pest Management Regulatory Agency, (PMRA) a division of Health Canada, has since its approval been found to be very highly toxic to the honeybee, apis mellifera. Despite knowing this for at least four years, the PMRA has kept the product's temporary license in place. So it continues to be used! ...read full post

Comments (1) | February 20, 2009