The wildfire season has started, perhaps the worst time of the year for those of us who enjoy fresh air and breathing. More than 400 fires have
raged across Canada in the past month — half of them burning out of control, forcing the evacuation of more than 29,000 people from communities across Alberta. Officials described this as an “unprecedented situation” for the region.
The impact has been significant and extends well beyond our northern neighbor. Poor air quality has been reported in states as far away as Missouri, Minnesota, and New York. As the saying goes, where there’s smoke, there’s fire, and the bigger the fire, the more smoke it produces. This spring’s Canadian wildfires were especially big and hot, causing the smoke to travel farther up into the atmosphere. The higher the smoke rises, the farther it spreads. In this case, the winds in the atmosphere’s upper levels are spreading the smoke thousands of miles away.
There were also extensive forest fires
last week in Quebec and Ontario. As a result, the air quality in Toronto has become so polluted that officials warn residents against strenuous outdoor activities, unless they enjoy hacking up a lung. Smoke density is expected to only worsen by Thursday morning.
Outbreaks as widespread as this in May and June
are “virtually unheard of,”until now. This was sunrise over New York City Tuesday:
This is the climate crisis up close, and it’s literally breathtaking.
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According to the National Weather Service, the smoke has caused craptastic air quality in parts of Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, and my beloved Carolinas.
Tuesday, New York City reported the worst air pollution of any major city in the world as heavy smoke from the fires drifted south. Overnight, the air quality index for the city broke 200, reaching the “very unhealthy” range. New Yorkers could “taste and smell” the acrid smoke as it enveloped the city in a dystopian haze.
New Yorkers have been advised to stay indoors, but most New Yorkers can only afford about 200 square feet of indoors. This might violate the Geneva Convention.
If people in affected areas must go outside, even briefly, public health officials have advised that they wear masks to protect themselves from toxic air particles. We can only hope that idiots won’t dismiss wildfires as a woke hoax.
The Canadian government expects the “higher-than-normal fire activity” to continue well into the fall. This is due to ongoing drought conditions and hot temperature forecasts that could possibly match Canada’s last historic heat wave just two years ago. You’ll recall that Sen. Ron Johnson from Wisconsin raved about the positives of global warming, because it would mean less snow or something. Now most counties in Wisconsin are under an an air quality advisory. Unhealthy air conditions have a significant economic impact, if people are spending more time indoors and if physically intensive outdoor work (i.e. construction) must be delayed. Stanford University professor Marshall Burke points out no major estimates of climate change’s overall “cost” includes these increasing wildfire smoke days.
Johnson is a known moron, so he’s not likely to see the light (not that anyone can in this air). He’ll still refuse to address the very obvious and deadly serious climate crisis.
Rep. Pramila Jayapal tweeted this morning, “Imagine being a Republican climate change denier in Congress – you show up to work at the Capitol today, see the skies filled with smoke… and you still don’t get that we need bold and immediate action to save our planet? Ridiculous.”
Yes, it is, but if Republicans can’t blame drag queens or trans kids, they aren’t interested in the problem.
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CNN / Post Crescent / Washington Post]
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