Kathleen McQuillan

Remember back a few weeks when we were living under gloomy skies for days in a row with itchy eyes, a runny nose, even some shortness of breath? If you had asthma or another lung condition, you might have had serious trouble breathing, perhaps wondering if you should visit a hospital. Well, many did!
We were wondering when those distressing conditions would end. And, as news reports continued to come in, we questioned whether this would be our “new normal”. Happily, for the past few weeks, it had seemed that our air quality had improved. I enjoyed working in my garden, catching up on some outdoor projects, and basking in what felt like a normal sunny summer day in July.
But that welcome break from thick smoke-filled air has been interrupted again by more air quality alerts! It’s an especially “bad day” when our usual clear blue skies are instead a heavy grey with the scent of campfire smoke, mixed with a hint of creepy chemicals. Canada remains on fire. By a recent account, there are over 900 fires burning, with 25 million acres already destroyed in the first six months of 2023.
We’ve been instructed to bring out the N95 masks again after storing them away when the worst threats from COVID-19 subsided. Now, whenever the Air Quality Index (AQI) reaches PM 2.5, we’re advised to stay indoors with air conditioning or an air purifier equipped with HEPA filters. These precautions are targeted for children, the elderly, and people with lung conditions and compromised immune systems — all of whom are especially vulnerable. Just when we thought our days of hunkering indoors were behind us, here we go again. Only this time, the threat isn’t a virus. It’s toxic air-borne pollutants.
The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency just issued another AQI alert for the 27th time this year. PM 2.5 is the number indicating when air pollution has reached a level that endangers public health and triggers the alert. Breathing a “toxic soup” of chemicals, microscopic particles, and a low-level ozone that is emitted from our vehicles’ tailpipes, is known to exacerbate existing health conditions and even create new ones. So, the alerts!
Air pollution enters our lungs when we breathe and hitches a ride on oxygen molecules traveling throughout our bodies via our bloodstream. Blood flows, destined for all of our vital organs, providing oxygen and nutrients and, on “bad days”, harmful fumes and particulates. The smoke from uncontrolled forest fires, some over 1,000 miles away, can cause an array of serious illnesses including cancers, heart attack and stroke.
The rapid rise in the number of AQI alerts has finally gotten the attention of mainstream news outlets. After decades of living in ignorance or denial, mounting scientific data now irrefutably link this public health crisis (and a variety of other environmental catastrophes such as floods, excessive heat, drought and yes, wild fires) to human-induced climate change.
Researchers from around the world, representing various scientific fields, agree that recent record-breaking events prove beyond a doubt that global warming is real, accelerating, and likely to worsen unless we human earthlings make a radical shift in the way we are living!
Rising atmospheric temperatures and changing rain patterns have weakened North America’s boreal forests, making them more susceptible to generalized drought stress, insect infestations, and die-off. This leads to quickened ignitions from lightning strikes, acts of human carelessness, and accidental sources like railroad sparks. And these fires spread quickly, at rates beyond our capacity to put them out. A Canadian interagency fire center reported recently that over 3,056 fires had been counted so far this year — a ten-fold increase when compared to the average during the first half of the prior 10 years.
If that isn’t worrisome enough, scientists predict a 150-percent increase in forest fires by 2050. The effect on Earth’s atmosphere is staggering. Forest fires in the U.S. in 2021 alone, emitted nearly two billion tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) into the atmosphere — approximately 23 percent of all the carbon emissions that year from wildfires worldwide. And there are no signs of it letting up.
Despite these foreboding reports, including our approaching what’s known as the “tipping point” (when it will be too late to reverse these patterns), much of the science also states that we are not there yet. There are things we can do that could shift our current direction away from disaster. So, what are those things? Here are a few suggestions.
Start with the things you already know. Reuse, recycle, and conserve. Foster earth-friendly thinking with your kids. Caring about our planet can be fun and something to be proud of. We alone may not be able to save the entire planet, but we can help take care of our own neighborhood. And let’s not forget that caring is contagious.
The earth’s lakes, rivers, oceans, forests, people, plants, animals, and its atmosphere are all struggling. Some are barely surviving. Some have already disappeared. It’s hard for us to slow down and really notice. It takes courage to feel the fear and sorrow that hover just below the surface at times like this. But climate conditions are telling us our survival depends on our noticing.
We’ve been whistling past the graveyard for a long time. If we identify the things we’ve already lost, and realize how much those things really meant to us, our grief can be our motivator and our guide. To make it, we only need to agree that a livable future is worth our waking up and working together!