LIA MAZZOLINI: Canada’s top Environmental watchdog criticizes the main federal department responsible for the transportation of hazardous goods, for not doing their jobs thoroughly.

In an audit of Environment Canada, Environment commissioner Scott Vaughan reports that there are “long-standing problems with the regulations, inadequate training of enforcement officers and a lack of laboratory tests to verify compliance.”

There are regulations for the transportation of hazardous or dangerous goods to protect Canadians. But Vaughan insists that the departments aren’t following up to ensure that known safety and environmental problems are fixed or that known violators have changed their policies.

Some of these products include oil, propane and other toxic chemicals that are known to cause major health problems with certain types of exposure.

Transport Canada and Environment Canada have declined to comment. [ index ]

CHRIS GUSEN (read by Vanessa Purdy): Scientists at Environment Canada have perfected a process that connects oil collected from the ocean to the ships responsible for dumping the pollutant. The process is called chemical fingerprinting. It has been in development for around 20 years, so it’s not a new idea. It is only recently, however, that scientists have been able to put chemical fingerprinting into practice. A team of scientists at Environment Canada’s Atlantic Laboratory of Environment testing has refined and standardized the process so that it can be used in collaboration with police and wildlife enforcement procedures. Environment Canada has used the process to successfully convict half a dozen ships accused of dumping oil over the last two years. The agency is carrying out similar surveillance along both the Pacific and Atlantic coasts. Art Cook, head of chemistry at the Atlantic Laboratory, says the method is a crucial tool in protecting Canada’s waters, birds, and marine life. [ index ]

LIA MAZZOLINI: According to Environment Canada, the wildest weather of 2011 goes to the Prairies. Senior climatologist, David Phillips revealed Canada’s 16th annual, top 10 Weather List, on Thursday, December 22.

Phillips says The Prairies story sat at number one because its extensive flooding broke all previous records.

The expansive overflow of water affected Saskatchewan, Manitoba and sections of northern Ontario.

Philip’s pegged the flood’s price tag and $1 billion dollars.

The weather anomaly was only second to the most costly natural disaster in Canada, after 1998’s Quebec ice storm.

Second on the 2011 list was Slave Lake’s massive forest fire, followed by the Richelieu Flooding, the Prairies bad farming conditions and Goderich’s F3 tornado.

A total of 138 weather events were considered for this annual meteorological list. [ index ]

CHRIS GUSEN (read by Vanessa Purdy): At least three of Canada’s ozone monitoring stations will escape the budget cuts looming over the country’s atmospheric observation program. For months, concerned observers have speculated about how badly cuts to Environment Canada’s budget will affect its network of ozone monitoring stations. At a meeting last Friday, senior Environment Canada official Karen Dodds announced that the three stations in Canada’s far north will be maintained. According to Tom Duck, and atmospheric scientist at Dalhousie University, the Arctic stations are crucial to our observation and understanding of holes in the ozone layer. In fact, he says Canada’s monitoring network is spread too thin already and he would ideally like to see more stations in the far north. This is unlikely to happen, and the fate of the rest of the network remains to be seen. So far, Environment Canada has given no word about the future of the seven stations in southern Canada. [ index ]

LIA MAZZOLINI: Shoppers in downtown Vancouver were treated to a flash mob put on by Kids for Climate Action on Sunday, December 18. Near a popular shopping destination, the teens began dancing and singing songs to an environmental tune. This included a lyrical revision of “Jingle Bell Rock” as well as chanting, “climate change sucks.”

The group of students, who are too young to vote, say they will perform in flash mobs in order to call on the government to take action on climate change.

17-year old organizer, Sophie Harrison hopes that flash mob is the voice for Canadians that aren’t eligible to vote. This way they can express their concerns about Canada’s policies on environmental issues.

15-year old member of the group, Sam Harrison explains that the mob’s approach make their cause the most visible and appeals to people who might not normally care about these type of issues.

The group has taken part in other events like last Christmas and on Valentine’s Day. [ index ]

CHRIS GUSEN (read by Vanessa Purdy): Just a few days after the Canadian government pulled out of the Kyoto Protocol, Quebec has announced that it will launch a carbon emissions cap-and-trade system in 2012. Starting in January, polluters in the province can buy and sell greenhouse gas allowances on a local market. The following year, Quebec will impose caps on 75 big industrial polluters. In 2015, fuel distributers and importers will also be subject to capping. With this move, Quebec joins California, the only other government in North America that has laid out a cap-and-trade plan. Quebec and California’s systems are based on regulations established by the Western Climate Initiative – a collaboration of 11 US states and Canadian provinces trying to cut regional C02 emissions. Of the 11 WCI members, only California, Quebec, Ontario, British Columbia, and Manitoba remain committed to a cap-and-trade system. For Quebec, the second phase of the project will be to reach agreements with the other provinces to integrate their various cap-and-trade systems. [ index ]

VANESSA PURDY: In 1974, the grey wolf was added to the federal endangered species list in the United States, and since then, their population grew to about 6,200– five times it’s initially dismal numbers. Last spring, however, Congress cancelled their endangered status in five states, and now, by the end of this year, Obama’s administration is set to decide the fate of the protections in 29 Eastern states.

As it stands in most states, it is still illegal to hunt wolves; but given their population’s increase in some pockets, those protections are at risk. Federal representatives seem anxious to declare this mission a success, and put an end to a program that has cost the feds $92.6-million since 1991. [ index ]

VANESSA PURDY: Months after the March disaster at a nuclear plant in Fukushima, Japan, the government has said that the reactors are in a state of cold shutdown, in preparation for a longer term phase eventually resulting in the plant’s decommission.

This Wednesday, they released the plan, which calls on the the removal of used fuel from the plant to begin in two years, and the removal of melted fuel debris to start within ten. All told, the decommission could the up to 40 years. The length of time this will take is not expected to have a direct effect on when the 80,000 evacuees from within a 20-kilometre radius of the dangerous plant will be able to return. Some may be allowed back as early as next spring.

An advisory panel has estimated the clean up project may cost up to $15 billion to complete. In addition, there is approximately 2,400 square kilometres of land surrounding the plant in need of decontamination, according to the Environment Minister. [ index ]

VANESSA PURDY: Federal police have recently ended their investigation into the oil spill off the Brazilian coast that took place November 7th, and it is not looking good for the oil companies involved. The investigators are are calling on prosecutors to lay charges against both Chevron and Transocean. Seventeen people could be facing prosecution for crimes against the environment for failing to provide the police with sufficient information, said an official this Thursday.

If convicted, the representatives could face up to fourteen years in jail, each. Chevron has already been fined $28 million by Brazil’s Environment Ministry; and also faces an $11 billion lawsuit from a federal prosecutor. Chevron claims the indictments are being sought without merit, and says they are confident that they responded appropriately to the incident in question. They say the spill occurred as a result of the company underestimating the pressure in a reservoir underground. [ index ]

CARA CHELLEW: Environment Canada is failing to enforce environmental protection regulations, warns Canada’s federal environment commissioner Scott Vaughan in his annual report to parliament.

In his report, Vaughan states the agency does not have adequate information on whom it is regulating and is not to penalizing offenders in a fair and consistent manner.

NDP environment critic Megan Leslie points to problems in leadership where there has been five different environment ministers over the past five years.

Current Environment Minister Peter Kent believes Vaughan failed to recognize that the government has made significant investments and improvements in 2007 and 2008.

The report also recommends better oversight for Transport Canada when moving dangerous goods and stronger emergency procedures for the country’s 70 000 kilometers of oil and natural gas pipelines. [ index ]

CARA CHELLEW: The city of Surrey BC has signed a 9 million dollar contract with BFI Canada for sustainable trash collection.

Trucks will eventually be powered by kitchen scraps, yard waste, and other organics and by next October, trash will be collected by natural gas trucks that emit 23 percent less carbon emissions and 90 percent less air particulates than traditional diesel trucks.

The city hope of diverting 70 percent of the city’s waste from the landfill by 2015 and is well on its way.

Residential garbage has been reduced by 45 percent since the city began its pilot organics program last year. [ index ]

CARA CHELLEW: Chiquita Brands International is joining a handful of other US companies in boycotting oil produced from Canada’s tar sands.

Working to lower its environmental footprint, Chiquita has joined with environmental group ForestEthics to find ways to stop using tar sands derived fuel to ship its produce.

Following a market trend against the tar sands, the move by Chiquita and 15 other US companies is forcing trucking companies and fuel suppliers to take action.

Extracting fuel from the tar sands is extremely energy intensive and produces toxic emissions which has been linked to higher rates of cancer in people living downwind and downstream from the operations. [ index ]

LIA MAZZOLINI: The green theme is getting a lot more attention in Hollywood, in the last year. 5 Eco-centric documentary films have made the 2012 Oscar shortlist. Among the 15 films on the list for best documentaries in the 84th annual Academy Awards, five of the films cover environmental and animal issues.

Project Nim, Jane’s Journey, Battle for Brooklyn, Semper Fi: Always Faithful and If a Tree Falls are all competing for best documentary. Project Nim reflects the life experience of a chimpanzee living in captivity. Jane’s Journey is about activist Dr. Jane Goodall’s life and work. Battle for Brooklyn takes place in the New York neighbourhood, and shows the efforts made by the community to stop overbuilding by developers. Semper Fi: Always Faithful follows an ex-marine’s journey that uncovers illegal industrial dumping sites that are contaminating the water. Lastly, If a Tree Falls investigates issues surrounding Daniel McGowan and his environmental activism.

Film critics say there has been a rise in popularity of the subject matter surrounding the environment and predict there will be more green Oscar-worthy films in the future. [ index ]

LIA MAZZOLINI: Germany has granted 20 young scientists from around the world, the chance to participate in extensive research on climate change and sustainability. The project is part of Berlin’s push to get 80 percent of its energy from renewable sources by 2050.

The selected scholars will embark in a fully funded, three-month research projects in Germany costing a whopping €2 billion, announced on Thursday December 15.

There were awards called “Green Talents,” given to scientists and engineers from China, India, Brazil, South Africa, the United States and other places in Latin America and Asia.

Deputy research minister, Thomas Rachel, who handed out the awards says that their efforts will help develop and improve environmentally friendly and sustainable technologies to combat climate change for the globe.

Germany runs several cooperation agreements with many countries to support sustainability, renewable energies and environmentally friendly urban and industrial development in Asia, Latin America and Africa. [ index ]

LIA MAZZOLINI: Pictures have surfaced of Arctic polar bears turning to cannibalism because of dwindling food sources.

While cannibalism isn’t completely unheard of among polar bears, instances have been on the rise over the last few years. Climate change is causing ice to melt, trapping polar bears on land for extended periods of time. Researchers believe that as the area of sea ice declines, fewer seals are accessible to the bears leading to increased acts of cannibalism.

Environmental photojournalist, Jenny Ross shot polar bears eating their own kind including helpless cubs. Ross took pictures to show evidence of the unfortunate circumstance of what the polar bears are resorting to in order to survive. She added that even the attack method resembled the predatory nature of how seals are hunted and killed.

In 2007, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service proposed to list the polar bear as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act primarily because of the decline of sea ice. [ index ]