Kristen Villebrun and Wendy Bush hoped they wouldn't have to pray for Chedoke Creek, but four years after they first raised alarm about the water's condition, they were part of an Indigenous full moon ceremony to do just that. About 50 people showed up near Princess Point on the dark and frigid Monday evening for the monthly ceremony, which was particularly special as it focused on Chedoke Creek. The body of water that runs into Cootes Paradise had about 24 billion litres of sewage and storm water runoff leak into it due to a gate being left open.
In the southeast, temperatures of 43 C and higher are forecast across the region with “unusually warm water” in the Gulf of Mexico and the western Atlantic Ocean fuelling “persistent, oppressive humidity” along the coast. In Florida, the record surface water temperatures offshore are fuelling concerns about a busier-than-expected hurricane season, since warm, humid air is a key component in how the storms form and grow.
Washington state officials and farmers are calling on the British Columbia government to act on water quality reports that show large amounts of bacteria are flowing from north of the border into the Nooksack River watershed. They say high levels of fecal coliform — of which E. coli is a subgroup — are flowing from a Fraser Valley creek into Pepin Creek in Washington before entering the Nooksack, which empties into the sea near shellfish beds owned by the Lummi Nation.
Members of civic groups shout slogans during a rally calling for South Korea and the U.S. to express their objection to the Japanese government's decision to release treated radioactive water from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, in Seoul, South Korea. The signs read "We oppose the release of treated radioactive water from Fukushima."
In a city of pinstripes and partisan power brokers, Mike Allison sticks out like a sore thumb. He’s in the wrong place — and he knows it. “I shouldn’t be here,” the denim-clad Indigenous elder suddenly says, fighting tears beneath the brim of his trademark cowboy hat. “I should be out on the land, working with my kids, teaching them values. I should be teaching them kids how to work with the environment, not fight for it.”
