Nicole Hancock
Indigenous community hosts full moon ceremony ...

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.

Indigenous community hosts full moon ceremony to heal Chedoke Creek

B.C. coast

Unchecked climate change puts Canada’s West Coast in hot water

Unchecked climate change puts Canada’s West Coast in hot water

Last year was the hottest on record for the ocean, an upward trend only expected to continue as it wreaks havoc on coastal communities and spurs irreversible losses to marine ecosystems. Ocean warming has cascading effects, melting polar ice and causing sea-level rise, marine heat waves and ocean acidification, the United Nations’ panel of climate experts made clear on Monday. Sea-level rise has doubled in the last three decades, reaching a record high in 2021, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reported. Rising seas, coupled with more extreme weather, are setting the stage for a perfect storm of flooding for coastal communities. 

How Metro Vancouver is earthquake-proofing its water reservoirs in preparation for the 'Big One'

How Metro Vancouver is earthquake-proofing its water reservoirs in preparation for the 'Big One'

Nearly six metres below a South Delta residential area, workers are making upgrades to a water storage reservoir that holds millions of litres of drinking water. Work at the Pebble Hill reservoir began in the fall of 2021 to prepare for natural disasters in the future. Metro Vancouver has been steadily upgrading its reservoirs since the '90s to ensure it can provide water to the region following the "Big One" — a megathrust earthquake expected to hit the B.C. coast someday.

Wave of pollution from cruise ships expected regardless of new federal wastewater rules

Wave of pollution from cruise ships expected regardless of new federal wastewater rules

Environmental groups are hoisting red flags as the cruise ship season relaunches after the easing of COVID restrictions on the West Coast despite Ottawa’s recent announcement it will roll out stricter wastewater dumping rules. The federal government’s proposed environmental regulations are ambiguous, but signal Transport Canada is starting to acknowledge cruise ships have been taking advantage of Canada’s lax standards to dump billions of litres of dirty water waste along the B.C. coast, said Anna Barford, Stand.earth’s shipping campaigner.

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