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Currently, renewable energy generates more jobs than fossil fuels. Employment is expected to rise to 2.1 million in wind-power and 6.3 million in solar power by 2030. A similar study released by the U.S. Conference of Mayors says renewable energy and energy efficiency are expected to produce 4.2 million jobs in the U.S. by 2038.

Both wealthy and developing countries will see job creation. The report encourages governments, employers and trade unions to promote environmentally sustainable jobs.

The 2008 election may be the most critical election in our history, for its outcome will have not only profound national consequences but global ones as well. Canadians are considering their environmental legacy at home and globally. They are also seeking solutions and messages of hope.

This election will set the course and define Canada's approach to the climate crisis. Voters wish to elect a government that will take real action on climate change - the most important single challenge the world faces at the dawn of the twenty-first century. Five federal political parties have made their climate positions clear.

"This election is so critical, each individual vote matters so much, and its vitally important we elect people and parties committed to climate change action," said Gaile Whelan Enns, of Manitoba Wildlands, a member of Climate Action Network Canada.

Environmental groups have advocated for all energy emissions to count within the Western Climate Initiative (WCI) cap-and-trade program. The draft set of recommendations released July 2008 suggests emissions resulting from logging and burning natural forests to produce electricity would be ignored. The final recommendations for the regional cap-and-trade program - released September 23, 2008 -allows each province and state to decide whether to ignore these real emissions and treat them as carbon neutral. The argument for carbon neutrality of these emissions is that producing bioenergy from forests does not increase emissions because trees grow back and remove carbon back out of atmosphere as they grow.

"The problem is that it can take more than a hundred years for a natural forest to take the carbon back from the atmosphere, if it ever does. In the meantime, switching to woody bioenergy actually increases emissions in the short-term when reductions are most urgently needed," says Chris Henschel, expert on forests and climate change for CPAWS.

CPAWS contends WCI governments need to send a clear signal that they will not create a perverse incentive to log and burn natural forests with no actual climate benefit. Creating a market to burn natural forests for electricity could result in much greater pressures to log these forests and accelerate clear cutting of northern pristine boreal forests.

A new international study published in the journal Nature found that about 15 percent of forested land in the Northern Hemisphere is unmanaged primary forests with large amounts of old growth. These stands may account for 10 percent of the global net uptake of carbon dioxide.

The report's author, Sebastiaan Luyssaert of the University of Antwerp, Belgium, and his colleagues, analyzed years of FLUXNET data, a global network of observatory towers that measure the exchanges between forest ecosystems and the atmosphere.

New findings dispute claims that forests give off as much CO2 as they take up. Old growth forests both under tenure and not yet under tenure was not included in the Kyoto Protocol. These forests should be taken into account in the global carbon balance assessments, and in negotiations for the post 2012 Global Climate Agreement.

The Global Carbon Project, a joint international project on the global carbon cycle reports China is now the world's biggest polluter, accounting for 60 percent of all growth in emissions. Currently, more than half of global emissions come from less developed or developing countries.

The authors of the report said the efficiency of oceans, forests and other carbon dioxide 'sinks' in removing CO2 has decreased over the past 50 years. The rapid rise in emissions so far this decade is unprecedented and disastrous changes to the climate may be unavoidable.

GHG emissions from wealthy nations dipped in 2006, the first time in five years. A Reuters survey of industrialized nations indicates emissions fell to the equivalent of 18.01 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide from 18.03 billion in 2005. Rising oil prices are seen as a factor.

Bill 17 will restrict hog operations in the intensively developed Southeastern Manitoba region, the Red River Valley, which is high-risk area for flooding, and the Interlake region that borders two lakes.

Hog producers and opposition critics argue the bill is pitting urban residences against rural food producers. Protesting producers said the bill will hurt Manitoba, kill jobs and have little benefit for Lake Winnipeg. The hog industry across Canada is currently being impacted by several external factors.

In 2003 the CEC ordered the province of Manitoba to ensure Winnipeg's wastewater treatment system would remove both nitrogen and phosphorus to improve water quality. Recent scientific and political statements have opposed nitrogen removal, saying phosphorus is the main case of harmful blooms of potentially deadly blue-green algae.

The Manitoba government is investing $235 million to upgrade three water treatment plants in Winnipeg. Current estimates suggest that 10 to 15 percent of these upgrade costs are for nitrogen removal.

As of September 30, 2008 the formal reference from the government asking the CEC to conduct an investigation was not available.

Birdlife International released a report, The State of the World's Birds. Their report indicates that in North America over the last 40 years, there has been a decline of more than 50 percent in populations of 20 of the most common birds.

Deterioration of bird populations is accelerating - one in eight of 9,856 living bird species are thought to be in trouble. Of these, 190 face imminent risk of extinction. The exact cause of bird declines is unknown but environmental degradation, land-use changes, monoculture plantations, fishing, and logging are all serious threats.

Conservationists have identified about 10,000 places in the world that provide critical habitats for birds, of these 600 are in Canada. This Canadian inventory is far from complete but most are located in southern regions of Canada and impacted by human development.

Gaile Whelan Enns told Manitoba Wildlands, "This federal election has more environment content in parties' campaigns and news coverage than has ever happened before. Canadians' concerns for the future, for their natural world legacy, and responsibility to the rest of the world as a northern developed country are growing. Voters have an opportunity to choose where their vote will do the most for the environment.

Examples include: Climate Action Network Canada's election blog, the joint KyotoPlus campaign directed to citizens and candidates in the election, plus the VoteForEnvironment.ca web site which provides information on party standings in federal ridings where the election is close.

Each political party is also linked so access to their election platforms and other materials can easily be found by Canadians/ Manitobans seeking environmental and climate election announcements.

Environmental Statements are not available for Bi Pole III standards. There is no indication what Environmental Assessment standards Bipole III would be held to.

No timetable has been made ready for the public environmental reviews, or for any of the stages of the licensing process. The options under discussion are only possible corridor options.

One open house in St. Norbert at the far south end of Winnipeg is not sufficient access for Winnipeggers. Winnipeg comprises 2/3 of Manitoba's population and a relevant level of public discussion and involvement is necessary for Manitoba Hydro to ethically conduct public consultation.

"Can we trust Manitoba Hydro's version of the outcomes from these open houses," says Gaile Whelan-Enns of Manitoba Wildlands, "when Manitoba Hydro seems to be going out of its way to keep Winnipeggers from participating?"

Little information regarding Bi Pole III is public. While the routing study is provided on their web site, Manitoba Hydro has not posted any of the information provided in the public open houses.

The investigation comes years after a September 2004 petition was filed with the CEC by Ecojustice and Waterkeeper Alliance, representing a number of NGOs. It claimed the US Environmental Protection Agency failed to enforce the Clean Water Act (CWA), leading to mercury pollution in water bodies by coal fired power plants.

The investigation to gather facts from NGOs, government and technical sources will examine permits for forty coal fired plants in ten US states. CEC will also look into Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) calculations.

A draft factual record will be prepared by June 2009 and shed light on whether the EPA allowed for ongoing point source discharges of mercury into US waterways and neglected to account for mercury that falls back to earth from coal power air emissions.

The Circle of Blue is an innovative global network of journalists, data experts, scientists, and communications designers. They see creating awareness of fresh water's affect on our health, world poverty, economy and climate as the first step toward action.

Researchers gather information from around the world and translate it into meaningful, visual and accessible forms. Circle of Blue is working toward a major global survey on water issues to create baseline data and to identify gaps in information.

Their newest initiative, the "Aspen Design Challenge" is an effort to re-examine how we look at water. Students from over 250 universities are invited to develop design solutions that encourage responsible water use, provide access to freshwater and increase awareness about the importance of water conservation.