News.

Local youth are encouraging our community to ask the EPA and FERC to work together to stop preventable and toxic flooding. 

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Flooding in Ottawa County, OK is: 

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Toxic! Flooding disperses heavy metals from the Tar Creek Superfund Site and Spreads them through contaminated waterways. 

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Preventable! The flooding caused by the backwater effect from the Pensacola Dam. Better water managements is possible

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Environmental Injustice! Wealthy vacation properties along Grand Lake are being prioritized over upstream children's homes and health. 

Loren Waters is dedicated to combating the underrepresentation of Native voices and stifling of environmental injustice coverage.

By bringing together Indigenous environmental activists and showcasing Indigenous environmental films, including “ᏗᏂᏠᎯ ᎤᏪᏯ (Meet Me At The Creek)”  – a documentary highlighting Cherokee elder Rebecca Jim’s fight to restore Tar Creek, Loren will inspire her community to fight for clean water rights, demand visibility, revitalize Native culture, and tell their own stories.

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2023’s theme was “Environmental Justice”, with each Dreamstarter using their $20,000 grant in ways such as increasing the visibility of indigenous environmental efforts, using storytelling to create more awareness of social and environmental injustices faced by tribal nations, strengthening tribal sovereignty and supporting tribal emergency management systems by using drone technology to increase accessibility to federal disaster relief funds, and others.