This blame game over Canadian wildfire smoke has got to stop
This new normal of near-constant wildfire smoke annoys me as much as the next person. But it serves as a reminder that we share one fragile atmosphere that we're collectively screwing up. Fruitless to waste all this energy pointing fingers like children when we should be joining hands to fix this. It's like nature's warning signal.
Whether it be wildfire smoke, a global pandemic, or heat waves, nature know no geopolitical borders. So maybe instead of squabbling over whose smoke is whose, we could acknowledge that we're all in this smoldering mess together. We only have one planet to live on, and we only have one atmosphere to breathe from.
Some people seem to think that you can rope off a "designated peeing area" in the swimming pool...
We all share one climate -- it doesn't matter where in the world you burn the coal or where the fires break out, we all suffer together. That's the reality that a lot of people all over the world don't seem to be willing to understand.
I've heard this exact analogy before with COVID and you're right.
Wildfires and pandemics are natural disasters which are international issues. Just look at how the smoke is even compromising Europe's air quality. And anthropogenic climate change are increasing the incidence of both; climate change is a natural disaster.