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Tim Horton Children Foundation and Manitoba Conservation had chose Meditation Lake as location of a children's camp – prior to any public notification. The Lake will be maintained as a non-development area for walk-in camping and remote access to backcountry zones in the park.

Public consultation held spring 2009 raised concerns over the area's delicate ecosystem, and the government's decision to clear trees and build a road before consultation or licensing. Water quality results did not meet the criteria for the development of a major camp after high levels of blue-green algae were found.

An alternate site will be sought in the Whiteshell Park. Tim Horton's operates five camps in Canada and one in the U.S., providing underprivileged youth, aged 13 to 17 the opportunity to learn leadership skills in a wilderness setting.

The International Climate Action Day falls during 'Power Shift Canada', a Canadian Youth Climate Coalition event October 23 to 26 in Ottawa. On October 26th youth will meet with MPs and Senators to discuss renewable energy, green jobs, and managing a sustainable and clean economy.

"We're calling for Canada to do its part to build and ratify an ambitious, fair and binding agreement at the Copenhagen UN climate summit in December 2009." says Youth Climate Coalition National Director, Amber Church.

Groups are also encouraging Canadians to sign the KYOTOplus Petition, which calls for Canada to reduce greenhouse gas emissions at lease 25 percent (from 1990 levels) by 2020. Over 50 organizations and communities across Canada have joined Kyotoplus, with more than 50,000 signatures collected to date. For Winnipeg information, or to search your community go to : http://www.avaaz.org/en/350_map

Clients of founding partners, TerraPass, Bonneville Environmental Foundation and Native Energy are first to be listed in the WCD. Visitors to the WCD website can look up any individual or company and see if they have purchased carbon offsets.

WCD does not sell carbon offsets but uses data collection tools to archive customer and product data. Customer activity data will inspire others, support carbon management services decisions, policy makers, consumers and carbon trading operations.

WCD is partnering with Scripps Institution of Oceanography, a leader in climate change research, in offering educational programs customized to participants. Data will also become a source for academic research on carbon markets and global warming.

Register yourself at www.worldcarbondatabase.org

NGIL, a National Grid subsidiary, and Statnett have signed a contract to explore a high-voltage link that would run more than 900 kilometers across the North Sea. Parties are currently selecting best possible routes for the cable link as a pre-feasibility study concluded it is both economically beneficial and technologically feasible.

The power connection would allow two-way electricity flow between Norway and Great Britain to connect hydroelectricity, offshore wind farms, and oil/gas platforms in the North Sea. Britain seeks to expand their offshore wind capacity and interconnections like this would balance the grid and address wind power reliability challenges.

"A connection between Norway and Great Britain will be valuable for both countires. A future connection will facilitate generation of renewable energy, improve security of supply and contribute to value creation," said Auke Lont CEO at Statnett.

The book entitled "Niigata Minimata Disease: Methyl Mercury Poisoning in Niigata, Japan" by Dr. Saito Hisashi quotes witness testimony by Dr. Shiraki Hirotsugu who worked with mercury poisoning in the Ontario community in 1979. Translation into English is recent.

Dr. Andre Barbeau, director of the Clinical Research Institute in Montreal investigated pathology of cats at Grassy Narrows and concluded organic mercury poisoning was present.

Prime Minister Trudeau advised Dr. Barbeau against publishing his findings. Dr. Barbeau confided in Dr. Hirotsugu his fears he may be forced to resign if the study was made public. The studies were never published and both Dr. Barbeau and Dr. Hirotsugu have since passed away.

Between 1962 and 1975, Dryden Chemicals Ltd. released over 10 tonnes of mercury into the Wabigoon River. The pollution spread east and poisoned fish, a main staple for the communities. Methyl mercury causes numbness in the hands and feet, narrowed field of vision, slurred speech, paralysis, possible death.

Grassy Narrows and Whitedog received a multi-million settlement in 1985 from the Canadian government. There is evidence mercury contamination is an ongoing problem, yet no remediation or further studies to measure the effects of mercury exposure have been undertaken.

The dams - Iron Gate, Copco 1, Copco 2 and the J.C. Boyle were built starting in 1909 and are currently operated by the PacificCorp. Blamed for devastating declines of Chinook and coho salmon and steelhead trout, the dams have also warmed the water and allowed contaminating toxic blooms of blue-green algae.

A total of 28 parties, including American Indian tribes, federal agencies, farmers, conservation groups and PacifiCorp negotiated a draft agreement, currently under review and expected to be signed this December.

Dismantling the dams would begin in 2020 at an estimated $450 million. This cost is less than improving the dams with fish ladders, screens and other improvements necessary to comply with US federal Clean Water Act and Fish and Wildlife Agency regulations.

The decision of Second Circuit Court of Appeals in New York overturns a 2005 District Court ruling that found climate change a political issue and not judicial. Major greenhouse gas emitters may now prefer new legislation to the risk of civil lawsuits.

The lawsuit seeks to force emission reductions on the utilities. The plaintiffs, American Electric Power, Southern Corporation, the Tennessee Valley Authority, Xcel Energy and Cinergy Corporation currently emit 10 percent of total GHG emissions in the U.S.

Attorney General Richard Blumenthal said the ruling "breathes new life into our fight against greenhouse gas polluters and changes the legal landscape to impose responsibility where it belongs."

Mr. Ashton and Mr. Selinger both indicated they wished to discuss environmental issues with Manitoba Wildlands after the Leadership Convention.

Gaile Whelan Enns, director of Manitoba Wildlands commented, "It is unfortunate Mr. Selinger's campaign staff decided this survey was not important. We thank Mr. Ashton for his response. Manitoba Wildlands expects rapid attention to environmental issues by Manitoba's new premier."

After the 2004 Wuskwatim environmental reviews and hearings Manitoba's Clean Environment Commission (CEC) recommended that "Manitoba Hydro should apply for the appropriate final licenses for these three operations under The Environment Act and The Water Power Act as soon as possible. (Recommendation 7.6)" Manitoba Wildlands, the Interfaith Tasks for on Hydro Development, and northern communities believe the CEC recommendation means both environmental and water power licensing must be done.

The CEC panel ultimately agreed with a public participants motion filed summer 2003, supported by public participants, that the Wuskwatim generation project area was insufficient, excluded impacts that would be felt elsewhere in the hydro (CRD) system.

A review of documents and correspondence shows that Manitoba Hydro is requesting the current interim water power licences be combined into one permanent licence, for 50 years.

Currently Manitoba Hydro maintains that the generation stations in its system do not need any environmental permits or licences. This view appears to be based on the age of the dams. The dams also were not grandfathered during the 1980s under Manitoba's Environment Act, as many other installations and plants were. No independant cumulative assessment of the CRD system, or generation stations throughout the province has been conducted.

Every year Earth produces a finite amount of natural resources - examples of overshooting include cutting down trees faster than they re-grow, catching more fish than are being beaded to stocks, and releasing more CO2 than can be absorbed.

Earth Overshoot Day landed on September 25th this year. The Global Footprint Network calculates this day by taking the world’s Biocapacity, dividing it by the world’s Ecological Footprint and multiplying it by 365 days. In just 268 days the world used the biosphere’s entire capacity for the year. Then we start going into debt by depleting the Earth’s natural capital for the rest of the year.

Earth Overshoot Day has moved forward an average 2-5 days each year. We will require two planets by 2030 if current lifestyles are maintained.

The statement identifies the current ecological crisis as being caused by humans. According to the WCC, countries of the North are responsible for the world's ecological debt due to historic and current exploitation and environmental degradation of southern hemisphere countries.

The statement calls on churches to pressure governments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to less than 350 parts per million (ppm) by adopting a fair and binding deal at the Copenhagen UN climate conference December 2009.

Ecological debt is the real cost that policies of expansion and globalization have on developing nations. The statement calls on the cancellation of "illegitimate financial debts" of the poorest nations in the South as part of social and ecological compassion.

Power Shift Canada, hosted by the Canadian Youth Climate Coalition (CYCC), builds on similar successful events in the United Kingdom, Australia and the US. The event is being coordinated with International Day of Action on Climate Change October 24th - a massive demonstration on Parliament Hill.

Power Shift aims to strengthen the youth climate movement and pressure government to implement a national plan in 2010 to reach science-based emission targets, invest in clean renewable energy, and create green jobs. It will also direct attention to Canada's role in negotiations for the next global climate agreement.

The event comes at a key time with the December 2009 United Nations climate negotiations in Cophenhagen around the corner.