Latest news with #HeatDome
Yahoo
21 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Seattle woman's 2021 heat death blamed on fossil fuel giants in first of its kind lawsuit
A wrongful death lawsuit filed in King County Superior Court claims major fossil fuel companies are responsible for the death of a 65-year-old woman during the record-breaking 2021 Pacific Northwest heat dome, arguing the companies knowingly contributed to climate change and misled the public about its dangers. According to the complaint filed May 29 by Misti Leon, her mother Juliana 'Julie' Leon died of hyperthermia in her car in Seattle on June 28, 2021, after being overwhelmed by extreme heat. The lawsuit alleges that oil giants including ExxonMobil, BP, Chevron, Shell, and ConocoPhillips are liable for Julie's death and accuses them of a decades-long campaign of deception about the risks of burning fossil fuels. On the day she died, Seattle reached 108°F—its highest recorded temperature. Julie, who lived in Ferndale, had driven to Seattle for a post-operative appointment following bariatric surgery. With her car's air conditioning not working, she tried to cool herself by rolling down the windows. The complaint states she pulled over to a residential street after feeling ill, and was later found unconscious by a passerby. Despite CPR and emergency treatment, her body temperature reached 110°F, and she died from heat stroke. The suit claims this unprecedented heat wave, part of what scientists called the 2021 'Heat Dome,' would have been 'virtually impossible' without human-caused climate change—fueled primarily by burning fossil fuels. The legal complaint argues the fossil fuel companies have known since at least the 1950s that their products were accelerating climate change. Instead of alerting the public, the lawsuit claims, the companies 'concealed their knowledge,' 'sowed public doubt,' and blocked climate action in order to preserve profits. It further alleges that the companies funded disinformation campaigns, downplayed risks, and falsely presented themselves as climate-conscious in recent years despite continued large-scale fossil fuel production. Julie's daughter is seeking damages under Washington's wrongful death and product liability laws, claiming the defendants failed to warn consumers about the foreseeable dangers of their products and caused public harm through false advertising and promotion. She also claims the companies' actions delayed the shift toward cleaner energy sources and left vulnerable populations—like her mother—unprotected from intensifying climate threats. The defendants named include: Exxon Mobil Corporation and ExxonMobil Oil Corporation BP P.L.C., BP America Inc., and Olympic Pipeline Company Chevron Corporation and Chevron U.S.A., Inc. Shell PLC and Shell USA, Inc. ConocoPhillips, ConocoPhillips Company, Phillips 66, and Phillips 66 Company The lawsuit marks one of the first known wrongful death claims in Washington directly linking a fatality to climate change and holding fossil fuel companies accountable. A trial date has not yet been set.
Hamilton Spectator
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- Hamilton Spectator
Amid a climate crisis, ‘Vital Signs' documents the ‘relentless force' of changing landscapes
Tucked into a quiet corner of the Bill Reid Gallery is a nine-minute film by Nlaka'pamux artist Jade Baxter about the wildfire that devastated her homelands. Through a series of raw, handheld clips, Why Would I Leave? documents the months leading up to the June 2021 blaze that tore through 'Lytton.' Baxter's footage captures not only the fire itself, but the simmering tension of a community living under intensifying climate pressure. After weeks of record-breaking temperatures during the western 'North America' Heat Dome, the fast-moving flames caused two fatalities and destroyed most of the Nlaka'pamux village. The piece is part of the new exhibition Vital Signs, which features work by six First Nations artists who explore the personal and collective impacts of climate-related catastrophes on their communities. The six artists — Jade Baxter (Nlaka'pamux), Jasper Berehulke (Syilx/Okanagan), Kali Spitzer (Kaska Dena), Kwiis Hamilton (Hupačasath/Leq'a:mel), Rebecca Baker-Grenier (Kwakiuł, Dzawada'enuwx and Sḵwx̱wú7mesh), and Sage Nowak (Tahltan) — were in attendance. For several of them, Vital Signs marks the first time they've shared their work at the downtown 'Vancouver' gallery. On May 13, Matriarch Mary Point welcomed more than one hundred guests to the the opening of the exhibition on the lands of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm, Sḵwx̱wú7mesh and səl̓ilwətaɬ Peoples. 'This place has many names,' Point said as she stood among guests in the grand hall of the gallery, with its soaring ceilings and mezzanine-level balcony that wraps around the room. 'Whether we think of this place as the Bill Reid Gallery, as 'Hornby Street,' as 'Vancouver,' I think we can collectively think of this place as — leləm̓ — as home.' Point, who is from the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm Nation, says she saw 'not only a crisis,' depicted in the exhibition works, but 'messages of caution.' 'In our language, there is no word for art,' she said. 'It's just part of who you are. I really see that upstairs — it's part of who you are.' Across the mezzanine, works by the six artists span painting, cedar sculptures, textiles, photography, film, poetry, jewelry, and drawing — showcasing a wide range of artistic expression. The exhibition's title, Vital Signs, refers not only to the measurements of the body's essential functions, but also to the idea that the land is vital to our existence — a living entity in its own right, say curators Aliya Boubard and Amelia Rea. In Baxter's film, scenes of intense orange skies, billowing smoke, and smoldering flames reminiscent of an atomic blast are intercut with quiet hand-held clips of the village, a 'Canada' flag hanging from a window, and Baxter's black cat Mitchuk slipping through the frame. These ordinary moments take on profound weight when followed with the sound of howling wind and the surreal, otherworldly light. Overlaying the juxtaposed clips is a poem, written by Baxter before the fire, in 2019. 'If you crawled up from the river you would see there are worn metal tracks' she reads. 'Pounded so deep into rock it could start a blaze to burn this heart out.' The poem references Pasco v. Canadian National Railway, a landmark 1985 B.C. Supreme Court decision. On August 19 of that year, the court issued an injunction preventing CN Rail from constructing a second track along an eight-mile stretch of the Thompson River — a ruling that safeguarded Nlaka'pamux fishing and cultural sites. Silhouetted against a hillside ablaze, two figures stand watching as thick smoke swallows the night sky. Over the scene, Baxter delivers a stark quote from CN Rail's legal counsel: 'There is god. And next to god is the railway.' The frame then cuts to an eagle circling high above the smoke. Baxter responds: 'To that lawyer I say — I don't believe in god. And I don't believe in the railway.' Jasper Berehulke's diptich on wood panels continue on the theme of fire, representing 'the relentless force of wildfires' he wrote in an artist statement. One painting, watching tqłəniw̓ t, depicts the 2023 McDougall Creek wildfire, which blazed through 13,500 hectares of syilx homelands. A silhouette of Berehulke's brother stands in the foreground, watching as flames consume Westbank First Nation land before jumping the lake towards kiʔláwnaʔ (Kelowna). His second painting, watching kiʔláwnaʔ, captures a lone ponderosa pine tree 'standing as a silent witness,' Berehulke wrote, as fire engulfed the other side of the lake. Healing is a central theme in the work of Hupačasath/Leq'a:mel artist Kwiis Hamilton, whose diverse practice spans graffiti-style painting, jewelry, and drawing. His large-scale painting explores the cycles we move through — life and death, pain and healing, growth and transformation among both human and non-human relatives. Black squiggles ripple across the edges of the canvas, symbolizing a time of upheaval and physical change brought on by an earthquake. 'This time of change,' Hamilton says, 'is an opportunity to learn, grow, and ʔuʔaałukst̓ał (take care of one another). Engraved silver and hand-cut abalone shell jewelry and ink drawings accompany the painting, which Hamilton says explores the reciprocal relationship humans share with the land. Also on display is a poem originally written by Hamilton in the Nuu-chah-nulth language. Sayaasim min Nismaqkin (In the future we belong to the land), shares the same name as the series of artworks on display. 'Even on the darkest days,' Hamilton writes, 'Your ancestors are with you, Remember them, Acknowledge them, Sing for them, Make an offering.' A featured piece by fashion designer Rebecca Baker, Our Roots Run Deep, is a corset crafted from old-growth cedar shavings. 'For those who know carving, it's so special to be surrounded by those remnants,' said Baxter, who arrived straight from Native Fashion Week in Santa Fe with her family. Inspired by her poem Yesterday: A Love Letter to Cedar, Baker said she wanted the piece to reflect 'the importance of using every part of our natural resources.' The exhibition is on view upstairs in the Bill Reid Gallery and will be on view daily until September 7. Admission is free for Indigenous Peoples.
CTV News
23-05-2025
- Climate
- CTV News
Today's high of 18 C will be the coldest high for at least a week
An incoming blocking pattern in the upper levels, known as an Omega block, will produce at least a week of stable weather conditions, including elevated temperatures and little to no precipitation across the west. This is the same type of synoptic setup that occurred with the record-setting Heat Dome in 2021 where two anchoring low pressure systems sit on the southernmost sides of a dominant ridge of high pressure. The placement of and opposing circulations around the high and lows inhibit normal flow within the polar jet stream and trap warm air near the surface for a prolonged period of time. Today's high of 18 C will be the coldest high for at least a week On Friday, there is a chance of light and scattered rain or possibly some non-severe thunderstorm development across central and southern Alberta before that ridge settles over the west and extends into the territories. Wind will also intensify throughout the day Friday with sustained winds in Calgary expected to sit around 20 km/h by the afternoon with gusts closer to 40 km/h. Once that blocking pattern establishes on Saturday, daily highs in Calgary will range from 21 C to 28 C until early June, with overnight lows often in the double digits. During that time there will be very little cloud cover, minimal wind and only a slight chance of rain (on Monday). Today's high of 18 C will be the coldest high for at least a week The average range of temperatures this time of year is 17 C for a high and 4 C for a low. As this is such a large ridge that will extend east into Manitoba, it is expected to hinder efforts to contain wildfires in that province as hot, dry weather returns to that region.
