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"Despite Ontario and British Columbia receiving high grades, there's room for vast improvement," said lead researcher Erin Marchington, adding that if all provinces and territories achieved best practices provinces would score top marks nationwide.

Manitoba scored a C+, and ranked 11th among the provinces and territories placing ahead of only Saskatchewan and Alberta.

According to the report, although Manitoba performs well in water and energy efficiency the economy is wasteful. Manitoba has the lowest waste diversion per capita in Canada; the second-highest kilometres travelled per capita, the lowest fuel efficiency in the country, and Manitoba's parks score lowest on ecological integrity.

The research team used a series of 35 indicators grouped into seven categories: air and climate, water, nature, transportation, waste, energy and buildings, and innovation.

The methodology was developed with assistance of the Green Provinces Advisory Committee: Faisal Moola, David Suzuki Foundation program director of terrestrial conservation and science; Sachi Gibson, Pembina Institute technical and policy analyst; and Jose Etcheverry, assistant professor of environmental studies at York University.

The GEO-5 report, three years in the making and the United Nations' main health-check of the planet, urges governments to create more ambitious targets or toughen existing ones.

"If current trends continue, if current patterns of production and consumption of natural resources prevail and cannot be reversed and 'decoupled', then governments will preside over unprecedented levels of damage and degradation," said United Nations (UN) Under-Secretary General and UNEP Executive Director Achim Steiner.

GEO-5 assessed progress and gaps in meeting 90 internationally agreed goals from UN conventions. Significant progress was found for just 4 goals, with some progress made for 40 goals, and 32 goals with very little or no progress.

UNEP called on governments to focus their policies on the key drivers behind climate change, notably: population growth, urbanisation, fossil fuel-based energy consumption, and globalisation.

The report, Reality Check: The State of Climate Progress in Canada, was requested by Environment Minister Peter Kent in 2011. At the time Minister Kent stated NTREE was "uniquely positioned" to assess federal, provincial and territorial governments' efforts to reduce GHGs. Ottawa's overall goal is to reduce emissions by 17 per cent from 2005 levels.

• A national target needs a concerted national policy behind it;
• Policy uncertainty still exists and stifles progress;
• The country has yet to implement effective policies to address some large sources of emissions

This will be the second last report from the NTREE, which for the past 25 years has provided original research and advice on everything from the effect of climate change on the economy to boreal forest ecological services, but whose funding was cut in the 2012 Canada Budget.

Former Conservative MP and member of NTREE Bob Mills described the decision to cut NTREE funding as "dumb."

"If you're smart you surround yourself with really smart people. And if you're dumb, you surround yourself with a bunch of cheerleaders. We don't need cheerleaders. What we need are smart people," Mills said.

Her book, "The Sea Around Us," was published to wide acclaim, and gave her a name as a conservationist.

The title of Silent Spring is from the Keats poem, "La Belle Dame sans Merci," which contains the line "and no birds sing." The title is also Carson's core message about the devastation caused by pesticides. Silent Spring warned that extensive spraying with certain pesticides was damaging the food chain, and the entire ecosystem.

Carson stressed human beings exposed to these pesticides were at risk of cancer and other diseases.

The book helped establish the widely understood ecological principle that every ecosystem is interrelated and that damage to any one component causes damage to all other elements.

A new edition of Silent Spring has been published for the Rio + 20 summit in Rio de Janeiro this month.

"We commend the Government on sharing this information, and we hope that this may be a sign of good things to come from our new Conservation Minister," said Manitoba Wildlands Director Gaile Whelan Enns.

The new groundwater legislation received second reading in June 5, 2012. The Legislative Committee will report Monday, June 11, 2012. Any member of the public can register to speak to this, or any other piece of legislation, at Committee. If you are interested in presenting please call the Manitoba Legislative Clerk at (204) 945-3636. Or alternatively, register in person at 6:00 pm in Room 255 of the Manitoba Legislature.

Manitoba Wildlands is posting the comments received in response to a discussion paper on the new groundwater legislation on our Water Initiatives page.

June 7, 2012 Sundre Petroleum Operators Group, a not-for-profit society, notified Plains Midstream Canada of a major leak on the Rainbow Pipeline near Sundre, Alberta. The spill has resulted in up to 475,000 litres of light sour crude oil flowing into Jackson Creek, a tributary of the Red Deer River.

"I would expect that the vast majority of it will end up in the Red Deer River," said Bruce Beattie, Reeve of Mountain View County. "It's a major concern."

The area around Sundre is common getaway area for people in Calgary and popular with anglers and hunters because of the pristine wilderness.

The Rainbow Pipeline also saw one of the largest pipeline spills in the Alberta history - a 4.5 million-litres of oil spill northeast of Peace River, Alberta April 29, 2011. Clean up the April 29, 2011 pipeline spill continues.

May 19, 2012 an estimated 800,000 litres of spilled oil was discovered southeast of Rainbow Lake, 165 km south of the Northwest Territories border. As with many recent pipeline accidents, Calgary-based Pace did not detect a problem, but was informed by another company after the spill was spotted from an aircraft. The spill, which came from above ground piping connecting an underground pipeline now covers 4.3 hectares.

"First Nations need to be informed immediately when such incidents occur and certainly not by media ten days after the fact. Large and uncontrolled oil spills are not rare; this is the second in two years in this region. Muskeg is critical habitat for a range of culturally important species," said National Assembly of First Nations Chief Shawn Atleo.

May 9. 2012 AltaGas Ltd. confirmed a pipeline rupture resulting in natural gas and light oil leak of approximately 1,600 litres near the Hobbema Alberta, town site of Samson Cree First Nation. The farmer on whose land the leak occurred heard a boom on April 30, 2012. Then on May 8, 2012 his children found the spill coming to the surface.

"If this rupture did occur 10 days ago, why has it taken the company so long to respond?" questioned Greenpeace Canada Climate and Energy Campaigner Mike Hudema.

Alberta is criss-crossed with pipelines, which consolidate oil and gas and bring them to plants that strip away impurities like water.

With numerous planned pipeline extensions, including the Enbridge Northern Gateway pipeline, pipeline failures are likely to increase.

The Blackout Speakout protest defends two core Canadian values; nature and democracy. Since gaining a majority in the House of Commons, current government actions have been direct in attacking charities that support environmental action and democratic discussion. The current Budget Omnibus Bill includes extreme cuts to science and changes 70 laws, including environmental protection.

Success of the Blackout Speakout campaign can be measured by how quickly the federal cabinet rolled out ten ministers at public relations events to 'tell their side of the story'.

Since the Fukushima nuclear plant disaster in Japan, Germany has closed eight nuclear power plants and announced it would be shutting its remaining nine nuclear power plants down by 2022. Germany has long been a leader in the solar power for energy production but really stepped up its efforts to transition to renewables after the Fukushima disaster.

"This shows Germany is capable of meeting a large share of its electricity needs with solar power," said Norbert Allnoch, director of the Institute of the Renewable Energy Industry (IWR) in Muenster. "It also shows Germany can do with fewer coal-burning power plants, gas-burning plants and nuclear plants."

Four former federal fisheries ministers, two former Conservative fisheries ministers and two former Liberal fisheries Minister, have spoken against the changes Bill C-38 will make to the Canada Fisheries Act.

"They are totally watering down and emasculating the Fisheries Act," said Tom Siddon, who was fisheries minister for former Conservative prime minister Brian Mulroney from 1985 to 1990. "They are really taking the guts out of the Fisheries Act in devious little ways... they are making Swiss cheese out of it."

"How many people in the Finance Committee know anything about steelhead salmon on the West Coast of British Columbia? Where is Canadian industry being ground to a halt today if we take a few weeks to properly look at these amendments?" questioned former Conservative Fisheries Minister John Fraser, who represented Vancouver South, B.C. as Member of Parliament (MP) from 1972 until 1993.

"I'm not some left-wing loony. I'm a Conservative. I'm a real Conservative and nobody can pretend to be a Conservative if they are not a conservationist," said Fraser, adding that there will be a "political price" to pay if the government does not listen to Canadians.

Green Party leader Elizabeth May and the federal Liberals have jointly concocted a plan to delay the passage of Bill C-38 if the government does not agree to make substantial changes.

The Greens do not have official party status in the House of Commons, so Ms. May is not on parliamentary committees. As a tradeoff, she is permitted to propose an unlimited number of amendments to bills that have come back to the House from committees. "The aim is to create such a substantial logjam that the government will have to negotiate removing the environmental and other non-budgetary matters from Bill C-38." said May.

The team's research has been used in development of pollution standards, assessment of pollution sources and measurement of pollution-reduction technologies. The team monitors pollution sources, including cancer-causing emissions from installations such as hospital incinerators, crematoriums, boilers, smelting furnaces, landfills and coal-fired power-generating stations.

They recently conducted research supporting federal efforts to produce a credible monitoring plan Alberta's oilsands sector pollution.

Thomas Duck, an atmospheric scientist from Dalhousie University in Halifax, suggested the cuts would jeopardize the government's plans to create a credible monitoring plan for the oilsands. "Why announce a (oilsands-monitoring) plan and then undermine your own ability to implement it. It's vandalism of our scientific capacity," said Duck.

The Canadian union representing about 6,000 environment workers has asked the Canadian government to reverse its decision, warning there are serious public health risks across the country emerging from the government's decision.

"If they're not monitoring any more, we don't know what level of carcinogens are being put in the air which (has) a huge link towards many different types of cancer," said Todd Panas, president of the Union of Environment Workers. "It just shows the government doesn't seem to be concerned with the health of Canadians."

There are 24 community pastures in Manitoba, 61 in Saskatchewan and 2 in Alberta. These grass and rangelands were transferred to federal government management in the 1930s as part of a soil conservation program.

Consultants hired to measure the costs and benefits of the community pastures determined in 2006 the program generated private and public benefits amounting to $58.3 million annually. Producers pay almost all of the program costs through fees paid to graze about 220,000 cattle on the pastures.

The Canadian Cattlemen's Association (CCA) is calling on Ottawa to delay its plan to transfer management of 900,000 hectares of community pasture to the prairie provinces.

"The environmental benefits that we get off of the community pastures is very beneficial not just for agriculture but for all of society. It has been positive for our industry and we would hate to see it disappear," says CCA President Martin Unrau.

Manitoba community pastures are on provincial public lands. The pastures are often home to listed species or provide important habitat for a range of flora and fauna.

"The results are sobering and disappointing," said Nicole Rycroft, executive director of Canopy, a non-profit environmental group that works with large forest products customers,.. "We can't afford to continue working at this pace."

As well, First Nation leaders question the CBFA citing a lack of public consultation and inclusion in planning the CBFA. "The invitation to participate is always after the fact," said Norman Young, Grand Chief of the Algonquin Nation Secretariat, which represents two first nations in Quebec and Ontario. "They draw up the documents and then say, 'The door's open, come on in.' That is not consulting."

"We have never understood how anyone would believe a map showing millions of hectares in Tolko's Manitoba licence area as 'suspended harvest in boreal caribou range'. Logging continues, and woodland caribou are particularly at risk there due to road building, logging, and intended new transmission corridors," commented Gaile Whelan Enns.