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The only way to truly remedy a natural disaster is to prevent it in the first place. This is why the Standing Rock Sioux, as well as First Nations across North America, are rising up to resist untrammeled resource extraction in their legal and traditional territories. If anyone needs convincing this is an important fight, or what the negative impacts of resource extraction can be on First Nations, let them look no further than Grassy Narrows Ojibwa Reservation in Northern Ontario. For the residents of Grassy Narrows, the result of unchecked industrial resource extraction has been nothing less than a natural disaster.

Meet my friend Vanessa Gray. This exceptional young, Indigenous activist from Aamjiwnaang First Nation -- in what is called Chemical Valley -- has been hard at work educating Canadians on what it's like to live in one of the most polluted areas of the country. When you can top the toxicity of the tar sands, that means something very bad is poisoning the land, water and people who live near Sarnia, Ontario. Gray, 23, along with two Guelph residents, Sarah Scanlon, 30, and Stone Stewart, 28, took direct action against $58-billion Enbridge Corporation's Line 9 pipeline on Monday December 21, 2015. The three shut down the pipeline carrying bitumen from Alberta's tar sands. They were released on bail the following day.

By now you have agreed and consented to countless Terms of Use and Privacy/Data Policies within the expansive social media ecosystem. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, What's App, Snapchat, Yik Yak and many more share one major theme in common -- they all need your consent, for surveillance, data collection, intellectual property seizure -- and they find ways of getting it. Your consent is typically accounted for by two things: one, by scrolling rapidly to the bottom of these documents and clicking "agree"; or, two, your daily, continued, sustained usage of the social media platform. Your consent is important. And it's a legal necessity. By doing these two tasks, you are allowing them to do things that may entail consequences at the end of the day.

Goldcorp founder Rob McEwen has called them "the payday loans of the mining industry" and they're introducing a new, intense pressure on an industry already reviled for Indigenous land theft, dangerous working conditions and environmental infractions.

Two weeks ago, nearly 100 people gathered outside of the Toronto Stock Exchange and marched through downtown Toronto to protest the North Dakota Access Pipeline and express solidarity with the blockade at the ancestral lands of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe. The police were there from the get-go, corralling the group and blocking traffic. Led by a group of five Indigenous women, we waded through the streets, chanting, drumming and singing. The media, on the other hand, showed up only after we proved newsworthy: when the rally collided with the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF). It started with a CP24 reporter. She showed up with a cameraperson at King and Duncan, demanding TIFF guards let us continue marching down King Street.  

Media coverage of world affairs mostly focuses on Ottawa's and Washington's perspectives. While the dominant media is blatant in its subservience to Canadian and Western power, even independent media is often afraid to challenge the foreign policy status quo. A recent Canadaland podcast simultaneously highlighted anti-Palestinian media bias and the fear liberal journalists face in discussing one of the foremost social justice issues of our time. The media watchdog's discussion of the Green Party's recent resolutions supporting Palestinian rights started strong with Canadaland publisher Jesse Brown laying out three claims:

Constructing Change speaks to people working in communities to be the change, to build projects, to make a difference.  The interviews and profiles are meant to share information about how to get involved to support and amplify the changemakers' work and/or to share how you can organize a similar project in your community.  The Constructing Change series is a collaboration between the Lynn Williams Activist Toolkit and Rabble Podcast Network.