The Air Quality Index in my town is currently 260 (very unhealthy) due to a surge in wildfires in western Canada and the northwest US. There are additional smaller fires not shown on this map at this zoom level.
From the interactive map it looks like the worst air in the world right now.
Gotta love climate change
We can only hope that this year finally opens the eyes of the deniers. (Before nature decides to finally solve the issue)
Most of the deniers I know are in the Midwest. They’ve had “hundred year storms”, draught, and winter cold now for about 5 years in a row and it didn’t phase them. Finally this year they were blanketed in wildfire smoke (and in the 25 years I grew up there we never had smoke) - and finally some of them are starting to realize something is up.
Oh everyone else says it’s a thing, well nothing happened to me so it’s obviously fake.
but now that it is happening to them directly it might be worth looking into
Lets face it, that “something is up” is going to be something completely ridiculous and stupid. Source: Corona
I had a friend that made any imaginable excuse to not believe Corona. When there were no vaccines: wHy tHeRe aRe nO vAcCiNesss?. Where there were vaccines: “ThEy ArE dAnGeRoUs!!”
If someone doesn’t believe in climate change by now, they are never going to believe it or do something against it.
Climate deniers think all the forest fires are some government conspiracy because a bunch of fires starting all at the same time is super sus. Even though it happens all the time after a big heatwave / drought and pine forests are made to burn. Sometimes these trees will just… not spontaneously combust exactly, but pretty much do. Pine forests are built to burn every 2 years or so, it’s one of the ways they reproduce - pines are genetically predisposed to catching fire easily and their sap is very very flammable. These forests burn hot and quickly but a fast fire isn’t a very destructive fire. These trees often are not burnt to the ground. However, we are so effective at putting fires out so this 2 year burn off isn’t happening. So, years of underbrush, etc is building up that otherwise wouldn’t be. This makes what is supposed to be a fast burn fire, into a slow burn one. What would be a natural fireline because there is a large gap between some trees, isn’t one because all the underbrush connects them.
So it’s not just because of climate change, but we are responsible either way. There aren’t any easy answers for this one because there are houses scattered all over the places. But there is no helping these Trump worshipping conspiracy theorists and we need to consider them a lost cause. Nothing will shake their faith in their Orange God so we must bolster against them and move on without them.
Lol no, they’ve sunk too much social capital into it.
For a bit I’d walk into discussions about how weather has been insane the last few years and say “yep, the climate is changing” (no mention of cause, even) and there’d just be awkward silence. Now I’m hearing people blame the sun, because I guess they’ve figured out a comeback to their own observations.
Thankfully technology is bailing us out even though we don’t deserve it.
Thankfully technology is bailing us out even though we don’t deserve it.
Somehow I get the feeling it’s already to late for that. The Amazon is already in a bad state and they’re discovering the temp at which leaves die and won’t recover is even lower then they expected. AT this moment we’re having to much freak issues that science couldn’t predict (it’s worse then they thought) and as species we’re more concerned on killing ourselves then fixing problems we created.
I think nature is pretty fast solving the main cause of the issues. Nature will survive, I just hope that the next dominant species is a tad more brighter. (and that it will take a few decades more)
Ahahahahaha. You’re funny. They’re only emboldended in their denial.
The only actual hope would be that the fires and floods claim them. We need to find a way to basically let the dickheads be the tip of the spear idiots like Alex Jones always claim they supposedly are. If they had to actually face these issues themselves, at actual danger, that might change their lives. Or alternative, at least remove them as an obstacle to actual action.
When the fires finally hit the east coast, I was hoping my family would wake up a smidge. Instead, my uncle convinced my Mother that this was the work of bioterrorists.
Hello from Spokane, where we were literally off the chart yesterday! (AQI of 511 out of 500!) I went outside for five minutes to water the garden and my eyes were stinging and teary for a while afterwards.
But nobody gives a shit unless it’s the east coast, because this has happened nearly every year for the past 5 years. At least I can see the sky today.
Yeah honestly as someone who lived through a lot of smoke in the PNW, I was in a weird way kinda glad the east coast was getting a solid piece of it earlier this year. More people need to know what the fuck going on and they’re way too frequently spared from it over there.
When it’s bad it’s like apocalyptic bad, people don’t understand.
a few years ago when Portland had all those fires, I walked out of work and the sky was literally RED. It looked like a fucking bomb got dropped here with all the smoke in the air.
Yeah I remember one year where it was so bad in Seattle you couldn’t see across Elliott Bay in Seattle to view either Bainbridge Island or West Seattle. When a ferry or water taxi would get even like 1/3 of the way across the water it disappeared into white space. The sun was blood red for 2 weeks. Just insanely creepy.
Ok well let me provide some contrast please.
I live in north Seattle area, but I’m originally from upstate NY. I went back yo NY this year for family, when things there were unusually smokey for once.
IT WAS WAY WORSE THAT IVE EVER SEEN IT IN NORTH SEATTLE, EVEN THOUGH THE AQI FIGURED WERE LOWER. Add to that, people don’t know the most basic things about coping woth smoke there, like making box fan + furnace filters.
So yeah they complained a lot because it was truly very very bad. I sincerely hope we don’t have to deal with that becuase in the 12 years I’ve been in PNW, it’s NEVER been close to as bad as NY earlier this year.
AQI in north seattle is currently around 100 and you can taste wood smoke.
Yeah, the PNW has been a horror show the last several summers. In Eugene, at the tail end of the Willamette Valley, 260 is a bad day but in August not bad enough to be brought up in small talk. We were in the 500’s last Tuesday then last Saturday the winds shifted and we has a whole day of clear air with AQI in the teens. I was exhausted from trying to get as mush outside stuff done as possible.
It’s been normal for the last 4 or 5 years and nearly unheard of before that.
I’ve experienced 450 in Chiang Mai, Thailand and you could taste the air. It was not pleasant at all.
Saw 600 in Shanghai a few years ago. It was horrific. Fortunately the Chinese government has made quite a bit of progress in improving air quality in the last decade so such terrible pollution isn’t nearly as common today as it used to be.
Sorry guys. Shit’s kinda fucked up here, but there are some real heroes getting busy up here. We’re almost out of stuff to burn I think, and people keep stealing fire fighters gear to try and save their own property so yeah, at this rate, climate will win shortly and there won’t be anything left soonish.
Again, sorry guys.
living in the pnw rn is great my lungs feel spicy
Today is a LOT better than. Yesterday, I’ll be very glad to be at home later where my AC filters are keeping my place breathable… did t have that the last time this was an issue and wow. Makes a BIG difference.
I’ve had the AC filters, and they make a difference, just don’t forget to change them afterward. I also ended up buying one of those home air purifier things (something I never thought I’d do), and that’s helped with the air in my bedroom at night as well - I’m no longer waking up with headaches. That plus an N95 mask outside and I’m actually doing okay!
Consider sealing off the stove extractor fan (when not using the stove) if you have one, it was our biggest leak during the heavy smoke season.
Yeah, can I sue my Ex for keeping my kids outside all weekend? I kept one of my kids home today because his camp didn’t have an indoor option.
Yes, if you can find a lawyer willing to classify this as “substantial risk of illness”
