Once again it’s hard to breathe in the States, writes DN’s Karen Erickson

The message came from the children’s schools Wednesday morning: Code Red is in effect for air quality in the District of Columbia and all outdoor activities are cancelled. There will be no gymnasium and no excursions as long as the smoke of fire flows from Canada over the east coast of the United States.

A few hours later, the fog thickened in New York, shrouding landmarks like the Statue of Liberty and the Empire State Building in a yellow-red haze. The same phenomenon hit San Francisco during the great wildfires in California in September 2020: smoke scatters the blue light waves of the sun, and only yellow, red and orange light is allowed.

Then, three years ago, a pandemic and protests against police brutality rocked the United States.

The emergency surrounding covid-19 ended recently last month. Now we buy new mouthguards and search online for air filters and air purifiers.

Once Is it hard to breathe in the United States?

US media have reported that New York’s air quality is by far the worst in the city. Broadway producers have had to cancel outdoor shows as actors gasp for air. Here in Washington, Thursday morning air is rated as dangerous. National landmarks such as the White House and the Lincoln Memorial are blended into the gray and white haze. It smells like a campfire—from hundreds of wildfires and wildfires in the Canadian provinces of Quebec, Nova Scotia, and Ontario more than 100 miles to the north. Storm systems and low pressure to the north have caused smoke to fall over the North American continent. In the coming days, it is also expected to move westward, toward the Ohio River valleys, and down toward North and South Carolina in the American South.

Severe air problems on the East Coast will likely improve by the end of the week, but fire season in Canada is just beginning.

I read the articles Where meteorologists and climate experts repeat the same phrases – that they have never seen anything like it and that everything is pretty much as scientists predicted. Fires are a natural part of ecosystems, but exploitation, the sensitive nature of fires, and mismanagement of forests have had widespread consequences in various parts of North America. Global warming is contributing to the problems, according to the researchers. Early summer in Canada was marked by record highs and dryness. When the spring rains fail, the forests in the north lose the lush greenery that could protect nature from fires.

Write a sentence that I have repeated many times before: There has always been severe weather in the United States. As a reporter, it is almost impossible to avoid writing about hurricanes, hurricanes, torrential rains, and droughts. Now our apartment complex is in the danger zone, but all is very quiet in the streets around our house.

This is nobody End of the world with lightning and thunder. The most dangerous are invisible and very small particles. It is they who can affect general health in the long run. Ask the people of Dhaka, Delhi, Jakarta, Doha, Peshawar, Mexico City and Johannesburg.

There are headlines when a western city like New York and a powerhouse like Washington are exposed. Obviously, Manhattans will have a hard time forgetting that June day when the sky looked like a yellow fire warning sign. Michael Bennett, a Colorado state senator ravaged by fires in the US interior, told CNN he hopes what happened will make politicians on the East Coast take action.

Perhaps some of the thoughts of those in power are clear in the fog: For people in many parts of the world, this is everyday life.