Wednesday on the Web: 16 Aug Edition

This week’s Wednesday on the Web is basically a list of things that make me shake my head. And then some.
In the US:
1. Charlottesville – and the fallout, including Trump’s tacit approval of neo-Nazis.
2. The defunding of a US group that fights white supremacy, the de-staffing of a US State Department office that monitors and combats anti-Semitism globally, limiting the focus of a US counter-extremism program to just Islam (i.e., not domestic white terrorism), and closing The Office of Global Criminal Justice, which “advises the secretary of state on issues surrounding war crimes and genocide, and helps form policy to address such atrocities.” Do you see a trend here?
3. Ongoing rollbacks of environmental rules at the EPA under the leadership of Scott Pruitt, including the Clean Water Rule.
4. The building of a wall along the border with Mexico, work on which already threatens a private butterfly sanctuary, the Santa Ana wildlife refuge, and so much more.
In Canada:
1. The fact that 25% of the Canadian Conservative party caucus has had interviews on Canada’s right wing Rebel Media, whose reporter expressed sympathy for neo-Nazi protestors in Charlottesville.
2. The slow, tragic death of Barbara Kentner, a First Nations woman who was hit by a trailer hitch in Thunder Bay in January. The person who threw it yelled “Oh, I got one!”
3. Joseph Boyden’s ongoing saga to ‘prove’ his indigeneity (see Robert Jago’s insightful response).
4. The failure of Justin Trudeau’s inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, his failure to act on the ruling of the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal regarding funding for First Nations children, plus the fact that his promise to end water advisories in First Nations communities is not likely to be met.
5. Oh and did you know that there’s a far-right protest planned for Vancouver this weekend?
Now for some lighter news.
The garden is producing tons of potatoes, beans, carrots, beets, and blueberries. The second crop of peas, mesclun, and carrots has been planted, and the strawberries are starting to grow their late summer berries. The shift in weather, from mid-30 temps to mid-20s, is much more manageable, but it’s definitely starting to feel like fall. The sun sets earlier each day, and we’re left with a chorus of grasshoppers and crickets chirping into the night, with the occasional whoo-hoo hoo-hoo of a resident owl. Every second day I ride my bike on the rail trail, dodging slugs on the ground and dragonflies dipping and weaving in the air. Luckily I haven’t (yet) encountered a bear or a cougar (not like in this video!).
Our one evening of rain (very exciting), left us with the lingering scent of petrichor, but we need so much more. The local community water system has moved to Stage 3 water restrictions, while our region remains at Stage 2 drought according to the provincial drought monitor. The wildfire hazard on the east side of Vancouver Island remains extreme, though the rest of the province has seen a drop from extreme to high. Flow in the Cowichan River is now at the regulated ~5 m³/s, though you can see where the rainfall event temporarily increased flows. Unfortunately I can’t see the discharge from Cowichan Lake into the Cowichan River, as the government’s cableway, which they use for taking flow measurements, is apparently broken.

While the mess of the world swirls around us, there’s some peace and quiet to be had at home (when the neighbour’s not running his backhoe haha). But we can’t lose sight of what’s happening around us, and make sure we stand up for what’s right.