As my brief shopping excursion this morning confirmed to me, Chicago has the worst air quality in the world. Vivian La, Jenna Smith and Deanese Williams-Harris report in the Chicago Tribune:
Thick smoke from Canadian wildfires coated Chicago and the surrounding areas with haze as weather officials issued an air quality alert for parts of the Great Lakes, Lower Mississippi and Ohio valleys Tuesday morning.
According to the monitoring site IQAir, Chicago had the worst air quality out of 95 cities worldwide Tuesday.
As of 11 a.m., the air quality index had risen to a level considered “very unhealthy,†according to AirNow, a website that combines data from county, state and federal air quality agencies nationwide. This means everyone is at risk of experiencing health effects.
Smelling smoke is an immediate sign to stay indoors, said Zac Adelman, executive director of the Lake Michigan Air Directors Consortium.
Whatever the role of anthropogenic climate change in the Canadian wildfires, I wonder when people will figure out that no steps that Canada takes other than changing how they manage wildfires and forests will mitigate the risk wildfires in terms of polluting the air?
The haze you’re seeing isn’t carbon dioxide, of course. It’s particulates. The best way of dealing with them is to prevent them from getting into the air in the first place. Converting from coal-fired steam engines to diesel engines had a major impact in reducing the amount of particulates in the air during the 20th century.
I was also amused this morning to see that New York City is cracking down on wood-fired ovens, much to the consternation of pizza lovers. Wood-fired ovens and furnaces are actually increasing in number. They are presumed to be carbon neutral which I would guess is true in the long run but you know what Lord Keynes said about the long term.
The Canadian wildfires were set by radical environmentalist, and the RCMP has arrested several people. The large extent of the fires is due to bad forestry management. Like California, Canada suppresses small fires that clear out dead wood and under story.
Some time ago a guy named Pyne wrought a book on Amerindian forest management. The Indians routinely set fires to maintain an open park like ecosystem, which is preferable for game. Early English colonists proceeded clearcut most of the region for farms. The Indians and farms are long gone, and states like Mass. are more heavily forested today than at any time in the last 500 years.
Have you made concessions to conditions? Still walking the dogs the same distance as before, or getting business out of the way quickly and back home?
As much as I can. I’ve reduced my walking by nearly half.
Apparently #1 in the most formerly safe neighborhoods now unsafe to park or visit. At one time I lived a short walking distance from this video. I walked to the Belmont stop.
What a shit show.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g9hGG2aDmvs
Try harder. Looks like your AQI is in the 200s. We were over 400 a couple weeks ago.
Steve
All the rioters sucked in the smoke in Chicago, Steve. 😈