There Are No Climate Sanctuaries

Global warming is coming for us all

Photo by Marcus Kauffman on Unsplash

Like many Midwestern Americans and Canadians, I’m trying to stay indoors today because the air outside is unsafe to breathe.

Wildfires in Canada — 483 of them at the moment, part of the worst wildfire season Canada has ever seen — have been belching out plumes of smoke for a while now. A few weeks ago, weather systems pushed the smoke toward the east coast of the U.S. Now it’s our turn in the Midwest.

An unsettling haze has descended over everything — it’s a sunny day, but it’s also not, somehow — giving the view out of my window a surreal feeling.

Now, I’m not suffering terribly. Spending most of the day inside just means that I’ll choose to skip my morning run. My dog may have to go without a walk later. These are minor inconveniences, not catastrophic circumstances. But some members of my community — those with asthma, for example, or those who work outdoors — have it much worse.

And, even though the smoke will be gone in a day or two (fingers crossed!) it’s a reminder that nobody will get a free pass from climate change.

The irony of this particular event is that the list of the places that are affected by smoke this week looks an awful lot like lists of so-called “climate havens” or “climate…