Global National: July 11

More than 11 million Americans are under flood watches after a summer’s worth of rain fell on Monday in parts of the northeastern U.S., with raging floodwaters shutting down roads and trapping people inside their homes. The weather-induced destruction in hard-hit Vermont, a state once considered a climate refuge. British Columbia’s wildfire season is flaring up, with more than 300 active fires burning throughout the province. What the government is asking residents to do because of the severe drought. At the crucial NATO summit in Lithuania, world leaders have agreed to only grant membership to Ukraine when it fulfills certain conditions. What the requirements are, what Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is calling “absurd,” and the help the alliance is offering in the meantime. The average life expectancy for an Indigenous person in Alberta has dropped by eight years due to the opioid crisis, according to the province’s health authority. Why this happened, what needs to change to reverse the trend, and how governments can’t agree on a solution. Plus: how Nike Canada and Dynasty Gold Corp. are being investigated for possible forced labour being used in their supply chains. And it’s a tiny lake with a big story to tell. Ontario’s Crawford Lake has been selected by a panel of scientists to represent a new chapter in Earth’s history. What the small body of water reveals about how much humans have profoundly altered the planet, and why it matters.