Air Quality Warning

[Karen-W]

I'm going to just point out that there are many factors contributing to these wildfires. Climate change MAY play some role in an increased number of lightning strikes or different weather patterns, but equally important are poor forest management practices which leave a lot of dry vegetation and overgrown undergrowth ripe for burning, especially at hotter temperatures and quite uncontrollably. It is a combination of factors and what is happening at the moment with the smoke over the Eastern Seaboard is a rare occurrence. As someone who has lived on the West Coast my entire life and learned, as a small child, about the Tillamook Burn and other major wildfires that scarred large swaths of the Cascades, I can't conclude that what is now happening is abnormal. What I do think is that these events are being amplified by the media, in particular social media, to promote a specific agenda while doing little to address some of the factors that could mitigate the extremity of the fires.

 

[BlueRidge]

That’s what I had read. it’s not like sitting beside a bonfire/camp fire. Wild fires are very different unfortunately.

Actually wood smoke is unhealthy if it comes from open burning fires or fire places. Its like smoking cigarettes its not going to kill you if its only once in a while but it isn't good for you.

My mother had COPD and she couldn't be in the a room that had a fire burning in an open fire place because it would affect her breathing.

 

[Sparks]

My mother had COPD and she couldn't be in the a room that had a fire burning in an open fire place because it would affect her breathing.

I have a good friend with obstructive airway disease. There are certain kinds of wood smoke that are quite dangerous for her to breathe or even smell

 

[Vagabond]

I'm going to just point out that there are many factors contributing to these wildfires. Climate change MAY play some role in an increased number of lightning strikes or different weather patterns, but equally important are poor forest management practices which leave a lot of dry vegetation and overgrown undergrowth ripe for burning, especially at hotter temperatures and quite uncontrollably.

Which political parties in North America advocate for funding better forest management practices? Bear in mind that most forest land in both Canada and the United States is owned by the respective national governments, and that the management problem cannot be solved merely by reallocating the existing funding to such departments as the U.S. Forest Service.

 

[BlueRidge]

Which political parties in North America advocate for funding better forest management practices? Bear in mind that most forest land in both Canada and the United States is owned by the respective national governments, and that the management problem cannot be solved merely by reallocating the existing funding to such departments as the U.S. Forest Service.

Can we take the politics to PI? A lot of us want a space to discuss what we are currently experiencing and how bad or not it is where we each are.

Climate Change thead in PI https://www.fsuniverse.net/forum/threads/the-climate-emergency.108428/page-8#post-6440242

 

[Private Citizen]

Either profound ignorance or counting on profound ignorance in the audience.

There is really no excuse for anyone spreading this kind of dangerous nonsense.

The danger is akin to everyone deciding to be a light to moderate smoker for a couple of days. No, not good. Yes, uncomfortable and unpleasant. But not a public health emergency for the vast, vast majority of people. Common sense + some targeted precautions for the 0.5% most vulnerable is all that's needed. The rest is hysteria. While I disagree with Fox News' classification as "innocuous," it's probably closer to reality than the nonsense spewed all over the liberal media.

I am LMAO, though, at New Yorkers taking their masks OFF once they go in the subway and putting them as they get off. We've gone 180-crazy the other way.

 

[kedrin]

A friend of mine is going to NYC for the first time today.

His timing is terrible.

The air was much better today, and weekend is predicted to be clear.

 

[canbelto]

The danger is akin to everyone deciding to be a light to moderate smoker for a couple of days. No, not good. Yes, uncomfortable and unpleasant. But not a public health emergency for the vast, vast majority of people. Common sense + some targeted precautions for the 0.5% most vulnerable is all that's needed. The rest is hysteria. While I disagree with Fox News' classification as "innocuous," it's probably closer to reality than the nonsense spewed all over the liberal media.

I am LMAO, though, at New Yorkers taking their masks OFF once they go in the subway and putting them as they get off. We've gone 180-crazy the other way.

Tell me you don't live in NYC without telling me you don't live in NYC. The subway ride home from work yesterday was about as masked as I've ever seen it since pre-pandemic days.

 

[canbelto]

Kind of wondering when it will be okay to go running again. Hopefully Saturday?

 

[MacMadame]

Either profound ignorance or counting on profound ignorance in the audience.

Doesn't everyone know that India and China have dangerous levels of pollution?

 

[Private Citizen]

Doesn't everyone know that India and China have dangerous levels of pollution?

Define "dangerous." Plenty of people live with this level of pollution. Most live until old age and go about their daily lives as normally as people in other places.

I find the air in India and China uncomfortable to breathe, plus ugly to look at. Even if climate change is largely a myth, I believe that better air quality is better for society and there are plenty of reasons to want to pursue it. But there are also real trade-offs, especially in places in the developing world, and sometimes the right outcome is to accept the trade-off. Is it worth more pollution and lower life expectancy if, e.g., fewer children starve? For economic growth that will lead to more prosperity for developing countries? Some of the trade-offs are easy and some are harder.

 

[Sparks]

Don’t go woke, inhale the smoke

 

[Judy]

Actually wood smoke is unhealthy if it comes from open burning fires or fire places. Its like smoking cigarettes its not going to kill you if its only once in a while but it isn't good for you.

My mother had COPD and she couldn't be in the a room that had a fire burning in an open fire place because it would affect her breathing.

Very true. My sister’s mother-in-law has COPD. There’s no way she could be around anything like that. She has to be really careful.

 

[Judy]

Kind of wondering when it will be okay to go running again. Hopefully Saturday?

Keep an eye on the air quality.

 

[Judy]

Fox guest: There's just no health risk...We have this kind of air in India and China all the time, no public health emergency... this doesn't kill anybody, this doesn't make anybody cough, this is not a health event... particulate matter is just very fine soot, they're innocuous.

https://twitter.com/MattGertz/status/1666791080258334723

This is insanity

China lies all the time.

 

[pat c]

I'm going to just point out that there are many factors contributing to these wildfires. Climate change MAY play some role in an increased number of lightning strikes or different weather patterns, but equally important are poor forest management practices which leave a lot of dry vegetation and overgrown undergrowth ripe for burning, especially at hotter temperatures and quite uncontrollably. It is a combination of factors and what is happening at the moment with the smoke over the Eastern Seaboard is a rare occurrence. As someone who has lived on the West Coast my entire life and learned, as a small child, about the Tillamook Burn and other major wildfires that scarred large swaths of the Cascades, I can't conclude that what is now happening is abnormal. What I do think is that these events are being amplified by the media, in particular social media, to promote a specific agenda while doing little to address some of the factors that could mitigate the extremity of the fires.

And people always people. Offroading and quading in places that they should not be. why do we think that all of these things are our personal playground to use toys on. Mind boggling.

Living where I am, I've seen that climate change is a real thing. It's not make believe. The weather has changed and it's not just a pattern. We used to have run offs where water would pour down to the river. We couldn't show our kids how we remembered it being cuz it doesn't do it anymore. That's not a pattern that's a change. One of many things I could cite first hand knowledge of.

 

[PRlady]

I have heard physicists, biologists, geologists, meteorologists, every scientific specialty conclude that man made climate change is real and we are already living with the consequences. It’s as close to consensus as it gets, even the oil companies admit it. As do the insurance companies pulling out of Florida and California.

You can argue we should just blithely ignore it and keep burning and fracking and whatnot; it’s ludicrous to argue it’s not happening.

 

[canbelto]

I have heard physicists, biologists, geologists, meteorologists, every scientific specialty conclude that man made climate change is real and we are already living with the consequences. It’s as close to consensus as it gets, even the oil companies admit it. As do the insurance companies pulling out of Florida and California.

You can argue we should just blithely ignore it and keep burning and fracking and whatnot; it’s ludicrous to argue it’s not happening.

It's a conspiracy by the CIA to get "compliance." At least that's what my MAGA friends say.

 

[BlueRidge]

The air quality here went back down into the mid-code red range in the afternoon, but now its flickering near the code purple again. Hazy and smoky at dusk.

 

[Badams]

It's raining!!! It's not much, but more than we've had in over a month.

 

[skategal]

And people always people. Offroading and quading in places that they should not be. why do we think that all of these things are our personal playground to use toys on. Mind boggling.

Living where I am, I've seen that climate change is a real thing. It's not make believe. The weather has changed and it's not just a pattern. We used to have run offs where water would pour down to the river. We couldn't show our kids how we remembered it being cuz it doesn't do it anymore. That's not a pattern that's a change. One of many things I could cite first hand knowledge of.

Yes. We barely get snow in winter anymore and scientists say by 2050 there won’t be snow in winter in NS ever.

I’m perplexed by the “climate change is a hoax” story.

 

[quartz]

It's raining!!! It's not much, but more than we've had in over a month.

We had a shower too!

 

[Kruss]

I heard about the really bad smoke in New England on my way home from work yesterday, and then realized why the haziness had gone on for a long time here in Chicago. I then looked in my rear view mirror and yep, haze over downtown as well. Nothing like what many of you are experiencing, but we did see a bit of it here too.

 

[ballettmaus]

The air quality here went back down into the mid-code red range in the afternoon, but now its flickering near the code purple again. Hazy and smoky at dusk.

Interesting what a difference a few miles make. I have no idea what code we were but we had a little bit of wind this afternoon and actually were able to see proper clouds and blue skies all evening long. I think the wind has died down now but it still seems fairly clear when I look outside.

 

[MacMadame]

I’m perplexed by the “climate change is a hoax” story.

They changed their story to "Yes, the climate is changing but these cycles happen naturally and it's not caused by our actions."

However, 97% of scientists who actively study these things agree that it's man-made while most of the leading science organizations around the world agree. And there is evidence that the fossil fuel companies know it too.

To quote NASA: That's a scientific consensus.

 

[canbelto]

They changed their story to "Yes, the climate is changing but these cycles happen naturally and it's not caused by our actions."

However, 97% of scientists who actively study these things agree that it's man-made while most of the leading science organizations around the world agree. And there is evidence that the fossil fuel companies know it too.

To quote NASA: That's a scientific consensus.

My co-worker was banging on and on about how it's a "natural process" yesterday.

 

[Private Citizen]

They changed their story to "Yes, the climate is changing but these cycles happen naturally and it's not caused by our actions."

However, 97% of scientists who actively study these things agree that it's man-made while most of the leading science organizations around the world agree. And there is evidence that the fossil fuel companies know it too.

To quote NASA: That's a scientific consensus.

Consensus on what, though? SOME of climate change is man-made. There is scientific consensus (and significant evidence) of that. I agree with that, as would any sensible person. I don't think anyone thinks burning fossil fuels is a good idea for the environment.

There is less consensus on HOW MUCH of climate change is man-made, whether is an actual "emergency," and how quickly we need to adapt. Most of the dire predictions we hear are based on spurious, politically motivated models that use wild assumptions. Changing one input by a small amount can result in a completely different output - like we have centuries or even millennia v. decades to deal with the impact. Unfortunately, these sensible voices are silenced by liberal groupthink and the hysterical media.

My co-worker was banging on and on about how it's a "natural process" yesterday.

It is. The earth goes through natural heating and cooling cycles. From 800 onward, there was 500 years of warming, followed by the little ice age. Much of what is happening today, e.g., to the glaciers in Chamonix, also happened in the Middle Ages, long before man-made climate change.

I'm a bit at claims of "there's man-made climate change because the weather in my area is different than it used t to be." The reality is that our lifetimes are probably too small of a period to measure; that there is and always will be some level of variance in climate; and some outliers.

 

[allezfred]

As with Covid and immunologists, I am going to take my advice from scientists who have actual expertise in the field of climate change and not random people on the internet who think being contrary equates to being clever.

 

[Private Citizen]

As with covid, I will read and examine multi-disciplinary perspectives; look at the evidence including the raw data and models, getting as close to the source as I can; consider the biases including political affiliation and motive for profit of each source; and ultimately form my own opinion.

Covid is an excellent example, however, of how ridiculous models, untested and unproven scientific groupthink, and an unquestioning population can lead to disastrous results. Climate change is very much the same.

 

[BlueRidge]

Nearly normal this morning! No smoke or haze, air quality in the yellow range. Such a relief!

I don't know if more smoke is due to come down here but for now its so much better.