Recent events have shown us that clean, healthy air is something we can’t take for granted. With air quality alerts hitting two-thirds of the US due to wildfires in Canada, what lessons can be learned? Are the recent serious widespread air quality alerts across 2/3 of the US your wake-up call for meaningful planet action?
Many of us may have hit the recirculating button in our cars during the recent smoke alerts. We attempted to avoid getting that smelly air in our vehicles. But do you have such a system for your home? While authorities urged people to stay indoors, many of us are left to wonder: “Is the quality of air inside any better than what we are experiencing outside?” People sometimes say their house is a leaky old structure with plenty of ventilation. Others have intake systems that bring fresh air into the home from outside to maintain air “fresh.”
But these systems assume the outside air is better than the air inside your home. When wind moves plumes of smoke from far away into your community, and around your house, it should serve as a wake-up call for us all: Do not take good air as a given!
Weather Observed
Weather patterns are getting more extreme daily. Things can change ever more quickly. Hail in June on the US East Coast: No way – but it happened. Orange air in New York City: No way, but it happened. Highest bad-quality air alerts in Minnesota: No way, but it happened.
When New York City is engulfed by orange air similar to what you find in Beijing, China, and developing countries like India, Pakistan, and others, you begin to understand the fragility of our climate. And to the animal lovers among you: Think of all of the unsheltered animals who have to suffer through such widespread air quality alerts.
In this particular event, the common wisdom is that these wildfires primarily result from warm temperatures throughout the winter months in Canada. Little to no snow led to the earth being a dry tinderbox. Fires were expected, yet the magnitude of it all ( currently standing at over 10MM acres burnt ) is overwhelming manpower and resources – not to mention the firefighting chemicals being dumped onto the planet.
After a day in the news, it’s not even mentioned. News channels like to report the spectacular but shies away from understanding causes that may lead to behavior changes.
New Climate Data
A just-released study finds that glaciers in Europe retreat by 2000 feet per day. Ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica are now believed to be on a trajectory to be fully melted before 2040 with current human influences. That’s only a decade away!
New data shows the Peterman Glacier in northwest Greenland is melting far faster due to warmer underground influences. In other words, we need to get our acts together quicker. We are running out of time! DO YOU VALUE YOUR WORLD?
Climate change is as incipient as air quality or lack thereof: We can act today under relatively “normal” conditions, or we wait until we are overwhelmed and helpless in the face of nature’s power. That is one lesson from the smoke, the almost instant air pollution from the Canadian wildfires, which, by the way, are still burning out of control at the time of this article.
What Can We Do?
Sharper reductions of CO2 and Methane gas standards are needed globally NOW. In the face of significant advances in solar technologies and battery systems, TODAY, it is easy to make pro-planet health choices individually. Building and renovating without the installation of geothermal or solar systems is unconscionable, and yet around affluent areas in the Northeast of the US, I observe only fledging demand.
Unfamiliar with these systems? Check out SHG Living’s series RISE and Sabine’s New House. See for yourself how to do it – the technology exists today. You can install it in your home TODAY.
Specifically on air quality, check out Sabine’s New House. One episode discusses in detail a Zehnder Air system installation.
Why wouldn’t you want to protect your and your family’s health in the face of increasing pollution levels? It is likely not the first time that citizens on Planet Earth experience widespread air quality alerts. There is no need to wait!
