Smoke from Canadian wildfires continues to shroud eastern US in noxious haze
Smoke from Canadian wildfires shrouded US cities in a noxious haze again Thursday, delaying flights and disrupting outdoor events in what President Joe Biden called a "stark reminder" of climate change.
Issued on: 09/06/2023 -
Smoke from Canadian wildfires shrouded US cities in a noxious haze again Thursday, delaying flights and disrupting outdoor events in what President Joe Biden called a "stark reminder" of climate change.
Issued on: 09/06/2023 -
01:40
'Reminded me of 9/11’
Skies were noticeably clearer in New York compared to Wednesday, even as the AQI remained high.
A spokesperson for the city's health department told AFP "we are seeing higher than usual asthma-related visits to the Emergency Department," adding that visits and calls were in the "low hundreds."
Officials handed out face coverings at train stations, bus depots and parks, and declared public schools would switch to remote-learning on Friday.
Linda Juliano, a 65-year-old secretary, gladly accepted a mask at Grand Central Station in Midtown Manhattan.
"I've never seen anything like it," she told AFP, describing the sepia-tinged smog that engulfed New York on Wednesday as "scary."
"It reminded me a lot of 9/11, seeing the sky all smoky and everything," said Juliano.
Meanwhile in Canada, pollution from the wildfires is expected to peak Thursday in Toronto, Environment Canada said.
With nearly 800,000 hectares (two million acres) affected, according to the Society for the Protection of Forests Against Fire (SOPFEU), Quebec is experiencing a historic fire season.
Twice as many blazes have been recorded this year compared to the average over the past ten years.
On Thursday, the French-speaking province still had more than 150 active fires, including nearly 90 out of control.
New reinforcements -- from the United States, France and Portugal -- are expected in the hours and days to come. More than 12,000 people have been evacuated within the space of a few days.
The situation remains worrisome in several regions, explained Stephane Caron, of SOPFEU.
"We are only at the very beginning of this fire season. We are now entering the period when usually there are beginning to be larger fires in Quebec," he said.
The risk of a new outbreak is rated "extreme" by authorities in the western part of Quebec.
(AFP)
The White House shrouded in haze and smoke caused by wildfires in Canada, in Washington, June 8, 2023.
Text by: NEWS WIRES|
Video by :Jessica LE MASURIER
Thick skies and an acrid campfire smell hung over the capital Washington, with parts of the mid-Atlantic region reaching "Code Maroon," the highest category of the Air Quality Index (AQI), signaling hazardous conditions.
This exceeded some of the most polluted cities in the world in South Asia and China, leading many residents to wear masks to protect their health. Though improving, conditions aren't expected to return to normal until the weekend.
More than 111 million people in the United States were living under air quality alerts due to the fires, the Environmental Protection Agency said Thursday.
"Millions of Americans are experiencing the effects of smoke resulting from devastating wildfires burning in Canada, another stark reminder of the impacts of climate change," Biden said in a statement.
He added he was sending extra resources to Canada, including "additional firefighters and fire suppression assets such as air tankers," on top of 600 American personnel sent in May.
The smoke blanketing the nation's capital was not immune to the city's usual political machinations
White House spokesman Andrew Bates hit out at congressional Republicans, saying the majority "subscribes to debunked conspiracy theories that deny the existence and nature of climate change," even amid worsening weather events.
The White House postponed an outdoor Pride event, although a parade and festival this weekend remain on course for now. The National Zoo meanwhile announced it would close "for the safety of our animals, our staff and our guests."
The Washington Nationals, the capital's Major League Baseball team, announced it was postponing its afternoon game against the Arizona Diamondbacks.
Hemadri Vora, a 42-year-old tourist from Mumbai, was spending the day with her family in Washington after a visit to New York.
"It's a little disappointing," she told AFP at the Washington Monument, but added she was used to similar pollution levels back home. "Obviously, the pictures are not going to be very clear."
Public schools in the capital canceled all outdoor activities including recess, physical education, athletic practices and competitions.
The Federal Aviation Administration meanwhile said low visibility had forced it to take steps to "manage the flow of traffic safely into New York City, DC, Philadelphia and Charlotte."
Environmental groups were also quick to draw attention to climate change, which is creating warmer, drier conditions that are increasing the risk and extent of wildfires.
"This is the climate crisis, here and now, causing dangerous air pollution and threatening the health of millions of people," said May Boeve, Chief Executive of 350.org.
Thick skies and an acrid campfire smell hung over the capital Washington, with parts of the mid-Atlantic region reaching "Code Maroon," the highest category of the Air Quality Index (AQI), signaling hazardous conditions.
This exceeded some of the most polluted cities in the world in South Asia and China, leading many residents to wear masks to protect their health. Though improving, conditions aren't expected to return to normal until the weekend.
More than 111 million people in the United States were living under air quality alerts due to the fires, the Environmental Protection Agency said Thursday.
"Millions of Americans are experiencing the effects of smoke resulting from devastating wildfires burning in Canada, another stark reminder of the impacts of climate change," Biden said in a statement.
He added he was sending extra resources to Canada, including "additional firefighters and fire suppression assets such as air tankers," on top of 600 American personnel sent in May.
The smoke blanketing the nation's capital was not immune to the city's usual political machinations
White House spokesman Andrew Bates hit out at congressional Republicans, saying the majority "subscribes to debunked conspiracy theories that deny the existence and nature of climate change," even amid worsening weather events.
The White House postponed an outdoor Pride event, although a parade and festival this weekend remain on course for now. The National Zoo meanwhile announced it would close "for the safety of our animals, our staff and our guests."
The Washington Nationals, the capital's Major League Baseball team, announced it was postponing its afternoon game against the Arizona Diamondbacks.
Hemadri Vora, a 42-year-old tourist from Mumbai, was spending the day with her family in Washington after a visit to New York.
"It's a little disappointing," she told AFP at the Washington Monument, but added she was used to similar pollution levels back home. "Obviously, the pictures are not going to be very clear."
Public schools in the capital canceled all outdoor activities including recess, physical education, athletic practices and competitions.
The Federal Aviation Administration meanwhile said low visibility had forced it to take steps to "manage the flow of traffic safely into New York City, DC, Philadelphia and Charlotte."
Environmental groups were also quick to draw attention to climate change, which is creating warmer, drier conditions that are increasing the risk and extent of wildfires.
"This is the climate crisis, here and now, causing dangerous air pollution and threatening the health of millions of people," said May Boeve, Chief Executive of 350.org.
'Reminded me of 9/11’
Skies were noticeably clearer in New York compared to Wednesday, even as the AQI remained high.
A spokesperson for the city's health department told AFP "we are seeing higher than usual asthma-related visits to the Emergency Department," adding that visits and calls were in the "low hundreds."
Officials handed out face coverings at train stations, bus depots and parks, and declared public schools would switch to remote-learning on Friday.
Linda Juliano, a 65-year-old secretary, gladly accepted a mask at Grand Central Station in Midtown Manhattan.
"I've never seen anything like it," she told AFP, describing the sepia-tinged smog that engulfed New York on Wednesday as "scary."
"It reminded me a lot of 9/11, seeing the sky all smoky and everything," said Juliano.
Meanwhile in Canada, pollution from the wildfires is expected to peak Thursday in Toronto, Environment Canada said.
With nearly 800,000 hectares (two million acres) affected, according to the Society for the Protection of Forests Against Fire (SOPFEU), Quebec is experiencing a historic fire season.
Twice as many blazes have been recorded this year compared to the average over the past ten years.
On Thursday, the French-speaking province still had more than 150 active fires, including nearly 90 out of control.
New reinforcements -- from the United States, France and Portugal -- are expected in the hours and days to come. More than 12,000 people have been evacuated within the space of a few days.
The situation remains worrisome in several regions, explained Stephane Caron, of SOPFEU.
"We are only at the very beginning of this fire season. We are now entering the period when usually there are beginning to be larger fires in Quebec," he said.
The risk of a new outbreak is rated "extreme" by authorities in the western part of Quebec.
(AFP)
Facing unprecedented fire season, Canada confronts logistical challenge
Montreal (AFP) – Larger and more powerful wildfires than ever have scorched millions of hectares of Canadian forests and displaced tens of thousands of residents. With so many fires out of control and no relief in sight, the nation is facing a logistical nightmare.
09/06/2023
This handout image provided by the BC Wildfire Service on June 7 shows smoke from the West Kiskatinaw River and Peavine Creek wildfires in the Dawson Creek Zone, British Colombia, Canada
Montreal (AFP) – Larger and more powerful wildfires than ever have scorched millions of hectares of Canadian forests and displaced tens of thousands of residents. With so many fires out of control and no relief in sight, the nation is facing a logistical nightmare.
09/06/2023
This handout image provided by the BC Wildfire Service on June 7 shows smoke from the West Kiskatinaw River and Peavine Creek wildfires in the Dawson Creek Zone, British Colombia, Canada
© - / BC Wildfire Service/AFP
After an early start, it is on course to be the worst wildfire season on record as hot, dry conditions are forecast to continue through August.
"The distribution of fires from coast to coast this year is unusual," said Michael Norton, an official with Canada's Natural Resources ministry. "At this time of year, fires usually occur only on one side of the country at a time, most often in the West."
But in the last month fires have erupted in almost every province across Canada.
As a consequence, Canada has had to juggle resources and call in reinforcements from abroad, including more than 1,000 firefighters from Australia, the United States, Mexico, New Zealand, South Africa, France, Spain and Portugal.
How is the fight to tame fires organized?
Canada's 10 provinces are each responsible for managing wildfires, with help from the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre. Alberta, Nova Scotia and Quebec have also asked Ottawa to send in the military.
Additionally, 1,000 new firefighters are being trained to deploy this summer, and the military's firefighting capabilities are being expanded.
They face an arduous task: "When a big fire is burning, it is impossible for the firefighters to make a direct attack," explains Marc-Andre Parisien, a specialist in fire risk management.
After an early start, it is on course to be the worst wildfire season on record as hot, dry conditions are forecast to continue through August.
"The distribution of fires from coast to coast this year is unusual," said Michael Norton, an official with Canada's Natural Resources ministry. "At this time of year, fires usually occur only on one side of the country at a time, most often in the West."
But in the last month fires have erupted in almost every province across Canada.
As a consequence, Canada has had to juggle resources and call in reinforcements from abroad, including more than 1,000 firefighters from Australia, the United States, Mexico, New Zealand, South Africa, France, Spain and Portugal.
How is the fight to tame fires organized?
Canada's 10 provinces are each responsible for managing wildfires, with help from the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre. Alberta, Nova Scotia and Quebec have also asked Ottawa to send in the military.
Additionally, 1,000 new firefighters are being trained to deploy this summer, and the military's firefighting capabilities are being expanded.
They face an arduous task: "When a big fire is burning, it is impossible for the firefighters to make a direct attack," explains Marc-Andre Parisien, a specialist in fire risk management.
This handout image courtesy of helicopter pilot Kevin Burton shows an aerial view of wildfires between Chibougamau and the Mistissini Indigenous community in northern Quebec on June 5, 2023
© Kevin BURTON / HANDOUT/AFP
And then "sending water bombers to douse flames 30 meters high is like spitting on a campfire, it is ineffective," he said.
One solution is to use controlled burns to halt advancing blazes, but with big fires, "only a big rain" will extinguish them.
What are the logistical challenges?
Quebec notably has struggled to fight all of the many fires burning in the province at once, due to a lack of resources.
"With the current hands, we can fight about 40 fires at a time, but 150 fires are burning," Quebec Premier Francois Legault told a news conference this week.
The focus has been to try to save lives and the mostly urban properties under threat.
Canada has an aging fleet of 55 water bomber aircraft. "But it's getting more and more difficult to maintain them due to the age of this fleet," which is now 50 years old, said John Gradek, head of McGill University's aviation management program.
And then "sending water bombers to douse flames 30 meters high is like spitting on a campfire, it is ineffective," he said.
One solution is to use controlled burns to halt advancing blazes, but with big fires, "only a big rain" will extinguish them.
What are the logistical challenges?
Quebec notably has struggled to fight all of the many fires burning in the province at once, due to a lack of resources.
"With the current hands, we can fight about 40 fires at a time, but 150 fires are burning," Quebec Premier Francois Legault told a news conference this week.
The focus has been to try to save lives and the mostly urban properties under threat.
Canada has an aging fleet of 55 water bomber aircraft. "But it's getting more and more difficult to maintain them due to the age of this fleet," which is now 50 years old, said John Gradek, head of McGill University's aviation management program.
A burnt landscape caused by wildfires is pictured near Entrance, Wild Hay area, Alberta, Canada on May 10 © Megan ALBU / AFP
With half of the fleet in poor condition, and with more extreme weather expected in the years to come, another 75 water bombers are urgently needed, he estimated.
How do you prepare for new normal?
In a typical year, about 7,500 wildfires burn more than 2.5 million hectares of forests in Canada. So far this year, 2,293 fires have already burned more than 3.8 million hectares.
The amount of burned forest area is projected to double by 2050.
Wildfires researcher Yan Boulanger noted, "for each degree increase in temperature in the boreal forest, expect the size of fires to triple."
Canada is warming faster than the rest of the planet, according to climatologists. This May was one of the warmest on record. And eastern Canada sweltered under an early heatwave in June.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has acknowledged: "Our resources are stretched."
"There is no doubt that in coming years we will have to reflect seriously on how we can equip ourselves to deal with this new reality. We will be facing more and more extreme weather events," he said.
Emergency Preparedness Minister Bill Blair said Canada is looking to acquire additional equipment and water bombers.
Parliament is also considering upping tax credits for volunteer firefighters to entice more to join their ranks. An estimated 15,000 more are needed.
With half of the fleet in poor condition, and with more extreme weather expected in the years to come, another 75 water bombers are urgently needed, he estimated.
How do you prepare for new normal?
In a typical year, about 7,500 wildfires burn more than 2.5 million hectares of forests in Canada. So far this year, 2,293 fires have already burned more than 3.8 million hectares.
The amount of burned forest area is projected to double by 2050.
Wildfires researcher Yan Boulanger noted, "for each degree increase in temperature in the boreal forest, expect the size of fires to triple."
Canada is warming faster than the rest of the planet, according to climatologists. This May was one of the warmest on record. And eastern Canada sweltered under an early heatwave in June.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has acknowledged: "Our resources are stretched."
"There is no doubt that in coming years we will have to reflect seriously on how we can equip ourselves to deal with this new reality. We will be facing more and more extreme weather events," he said.
Emergency Preparedness Minister Bill Blair said Canada is looking to acquire additional equipment and water bombers.
Parliament is also considering upping tax credits for volunteer firefighters to entice more to join their ranks. An estimated 15,000 more are needed.
In this May 30 image courtesy of the Nova Scotia government in Canada, Halifax Regional Fire and Emergency Station 54 Captain Natasha Prest directs firefighters working to put out wildfires in the Tantallon area of Nova Scotia
© Handout / Nova Scotia Government/AFP
Many experts also called for updated building codes for rural construction -- requiring fire-proof roofs on cottages, for example -- and even planting less-flammable trees.
"You need to have a buffer zone between the wooded area and your town site. And so if a fire starts raging, it'll run out of fuel by the time it gets to your front porch," said climatologist Dave Phillips.
Ottawa is also tapping Indigenous knowledge and practices used to fight wildfires for millennia.
© 2023 AFP
Many experts also called for updated building codes for rural construction -- requiring fire-proof roofs on cottages, for example -- and even planting less-flammable trees.
"You need to have a buffer zone between the wooded area and your town site. And so if a fire starts raging, it'll run out of fuel by the time it gets to your front porch," said climatologist Dave Phillips.
Ottawa is also tapping Indigenous knowledge and practices used to fight wildfires for millennia.
© 2023 AFP
The toxic cloud is upon us
Bob Hennelly, Insider NJJune 8, 2023
The sun rises behind The One World Trade Center while the smoke from Canada wildfires covers the Manhattan borough on June 8, 2023, as seen from New Jersey.
Eduardo Munoz Alvarez/Getty Images
This article originally appeared in Insider NJ.
Canada is on fire.
The smog fallout downwind has set off air quality alerts for 13 states south of the border with the worst air quality currently being reported in upstate New York from Syracuse to Binghamton. Toxic smog has extended down along the East Coast and into the Ohio Valley as millions of Americans are being advised to curtail outdoor activity if they have pre-existing health conditions.
On Wednesday, poor visibility at Newark Liberty International Airport and New York City’s LaGuardia Airport prompted the FAA to slow air traffic for lack of visibility. “Exposure to elevated levels of fine particles such as wood smoke can increase the likelihood of respiratory symptoms in sensitive individuals and aggravate heart or lung disease,” the National Weather Service warned.
Monday, Reuters reported “Canada is on track for its worst-ever year of wildfire destruction as warm and dry conditions are forecast to persist through to the end of the summer after an unprecedented start to the fire season” with blazes officials said on Monday “burning in nearly all Canadian provinces and territories.”
“The distribution of fires from coast to coast this year is unusual. At this time of the year, fires usually occur only on one side of the country at a time, most often that being in the west,” Michael Norton, an official with Canada’s Natural Resources ministry, told Reuters.
Yan Boulanger, with Natural Resources Canada told the wire service that “over the last 20 years, we have never seen such a large area burned so early in the season. Partially because of climate change, we’re seeing trends toward increasing burned areas throughout Canada.”
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By last weekend officials were estimating that 3.3 million hectares (a hectare is equal to 2.47 acres) had already gone up in flames “about 13 times the 10-year average” forcing more than 120,000 people to leave their homes, according to Reuters.
Of the over 400 active wildfires, over half were deemed out of control.
After years of handwringing, Canada’s unprecedented wildfire season, aggravated by the weather distortions of climate change, is presenting us a teachable moment as we find ourselves checking the smog alert like we did the daily COVID numbers just a few months ago.
Mayor Ras J. Baraka had to urge his city residents to take precautions during the air quality alert issued by the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP). One of the features of the climate crisis, like the pandemic, is it hits the communities hardest that have the highest concentration of the chronically ill, like the many thousands of New Jersey’s youths from communities of color who suffer from asthma at a much higher rate than their white peers.
“Due to heavy smoke from a convergence of wildfires as far away as Canada, the NJDEP has issued an air quality alert for the northern region of the state, including Newark,” Baraka said in a statement. “I ask everyone to protect their health by staying informed and carefully following NJDEP’s guidelines throughout the duration of the alert.”
Specifically, NJ DEP warned at-risk residents to stay indoors as much as possible, keep their windows closed, use an air purifier if possible, limit their outdoor physical activity and if they had to go out for an extended period to wear a mask. Officials flagged children, older adults, and people with heart disease, asthma, or other lung diseases as being particularly vulnerable to the degraded air quality.
“I think it would be common sense that when the National Weather Service and the NJDEP have both issued a code red air quality day with the weather service saying air quality is worse today, our state workforce should be kept insider as much as possible,” texted Fran Ehret, New Jersey state director of the CWA, which represents 40,000 state workers many of whom work outdoors.
Finally, after months of prodding from the environmentalists, Gov. Phil Murphy announced yesterday the adoption of the Inland Flood Protection Rule to better protect New Jersey’s communities from worsening flooding and stormwater runoff. The announcement was welcomed but the delay was inexcusable.
“The Inland Flood Protection Rule will serve as a critical component of my Administration’s comprehensive strategy to bolster our state’s resilience amid the worsening impacts of climate change,” Murphy said in his statement yesterday. “As a national model for climate adaptation and mitigation, we can no longer afford to depend on 20th-century data to meet 21st-century challenges. This rule’s formation and upcoming adoption testify to our commitment to rely on the most up-to-date science and robust stakeholder engagement to inform our most crucial policy decisions.”
The Governor got the rhetoric right way back in his January 2020 Executive Order 100 citing a 2019 report “New Jersey’s Rising Seas and Changing Coastal Storms” that showed “that sea-level rise projections in New Jersey are more than two times the global average and that the sea level in New Jersey could rise from 2000 levels by up to 1.1 feet by 2030, 2.1 feet by 2050, and 6.3 feet by 2100, underscoring the urgent need for action to protect the State from adverse climate change impacts.”
In the late summer of 2021, Hurricane Ida took 90 lives in total when it inundated a nine-state swath of the Northeast. Damage estimates for New Jersey ranged between $8 to $10 billion and in the $7.5 to $9 billion range in New York. In October 2012, Superstorm Sandy caused $70.2 billion worth of damage, left 8.5 million people without power, and destroyed 650,000 homes and was responsible for the deaths of at least 72 Americans.
“New Jersey is experiencing increased effects of climate change — this is a climate crisis and what we are seeing and will continue to see are periods of dryness that lead to drought and wildfires and then followed by periods of big rain events that lead to flooding — so we are going to have too much water excerpt when we don’t have enough of it,” said Jennifer Coffey, executive director of the Association of New Jersey’s Environmental Commissions. “These climate extremes are going to continue for New Jersey and the Northeast for many, many decades to come and we need to prepare ourselves for those impacts and become more resilient. So, we need to shore up our water supplies and also need to increase the intelligence that we use when we map storm water and that’s what these rules do.”
While we continue to debate climate change and the need to stop burning fossil fuels, the physical manifestation of the crisis is all around us whether we choose to make the connections or not. When wildfires on this hemispheric scale burn out of control it should prompt a sense of urgency for us to try and reduce our reliance on burning fossil fuels to power our society.
“This is the time to reject the seven fossil fuel projects here in New Jersey,” said Paula Rogovin, longtime Bergen County environmental activist. “What are they waiting for? It is going to get worse. This is the ultimate teachable moment. My grandson in New York City is in school and they can’t do anything outside. This is the time to recognize it is not getting better. We are not even in the summertime yet. The wildfires are just beginning.”
This morass had been building for days but we were too distracted to really notice how our atmosphere was being consumed by a jaundiced mega-cloud drifting south like a welcome mat from Hades.
And then the kids couldn’t go outside for recess.
Pray for rain to redeem us.
This article originally appeared in Insider NJ.
Canada is on fire.
The smog fallout downwind has set off air quality alerts for 13 states south of the border with the worst air quality currently being reported in upstate New York from Syracuse to Binghamton. Toxic smog has extended down along the East Coast and into the Ohio Valley as millions of Americans are being advised to curtail outdoor activity if they have pre-existing health conditions.
On Wednesday, poor visibility at Newark Liberty International Airport and New York City’s LaGuardia Airport prompted the FAA to slow air traffic for lack of visibility. “Exposure to elevated levels of fine particles such as wood smoke can increase the likelihood of respiratory symptoms in sensitive individuals and aggravate heart or lung disease,” the National Weather Service warned.
Monday, Reuters reported “Canada is on track for its worst-ever year of wildfire destruction as warm and dry conditions are forecast to persist through to the end of the summer after an unprecedented start to the fire season” with blazes officials said on Monday “burning in nearly all Canadian provinces and territories.”
“The distribution of fires from coast to coast this year is unusual. At this time of the year, fires usually occur only on one side of the country at a time, most often that being in the west,” Michael Norton, an official with Canada’s Natural Resources ministry, told Reuters.
Yan Boulanger, with Natural Resources Canada told the wire service that “over the last 20 years, we have never seen such a large area burned so early in the season. Partially because of climate change, we’re seeing trends toward increasing burned areas throughout Canada.”
ADVERTISEMENT
By last weekend officials were estimating that 3.3 million hectares (a hectare is equal to 2.47 acres) had already gone up in flames “about 13 times the 10-year average” forcing more than 120,000 people to leave their homes, according to Reuters.
Of the over 400 active wildfires, over half were deemed out of control.
After years of handwringing, Canada’s unprecedented wildfire season, aggravated by the weather distortions of climate change, is presenting us a teachable moment as we find ourselves checking the smog alert like we did the daily COVID numbers just a few months ago.
Mayor Ras J. Baraka had to urge his city residents to take precautions during the air quality alert issued by the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP). One of the features of the climate crisis, like the pandemic, is it hits the communities hardest that have the highest concentration of the chronically ill, like the many thousands of New Jersey’s youths from communities of color who suffer from asthma at a much higher rate than their white peers.
“Due to heavy smoke from a convergence of wildfires as far away as Canada, the NJDEP has issued an air quality alert for the northern region of the state, including Newark,” Baraka said in a statement. “I ask everyone to protect their health by staying informed and carefully following NJDEP’s guidelines throughout the duration of the alert.”
Specifically, NJ DEP warned at-risk residents to stay indoors as much as possible, keep their windows closed, use an air purifier if possible, limit their outdoor physical activity and if they had to go out for an extended period to wear a mask. Officials flagged children, older adults, and people with heart disease, asthma, or other lung diseases as being particularly vulnerable to the degraded air quality.
“I think it would be common sense that when the National Weather Service and the NJDEP have both issued a code red air quality day with the weather service saying air quality is worse today, our state workforce should be kept insider as much as possible,” texted Fran Ehret, New Jersey state director of the CWA, which represents 40,000 state workers many of whom work outdoors.
Finally, after months of prodding from the environmentalists, Gov. Phil Murphy announced yesterday the adoption of the Inland Flood Protection Rule to better protect New Jersey’s communities from worsening flooding and stormwater runoff. The announcement was welcomed but the delay was inexcusable.
“The Inland Flood Protection Rule will serve as a critical component of my Administration’s comprehensive strategy to bolster our state’s resilience amid the worsening impacts of climate change,” Murphy said in his statement yesterday. “As a national model for climate adaptation and mitigation, we can no longer afford to depend on 20th-century data to meet 21st-century challenges. This rule’s formation and upcoming adoption testify to our commitment to rely on the most up-to-date science and robust stakeholder engagement to inform our most crucial policy decisions.”
The Governor got the rhetoric right way back in his January 2020 Executive Order 100 citing a 2019 report “New Jersey’s Rising Seas and Changing Coastal Storms” that showed “that sea-level rise projections in New Jersey are more than two times the global average and that the sea level in New Jersey could rise from 2000 levels by up to 1.1 feet by 2030, 2.1 feet by 2050, and 6.3 feet by 2100, underscoring the urgent need for action to protect the State from adverse climate change impacts.”
In the late summer of 2021, Hurricane Ida took 90 lives in total when it inundated a nine-state swath of the Northeast. Damage estimates for New Jersey ranged between $8 to $10 billion and in the $7.5 to $9 billion range in New York. In October 2012, Superstorm Sandy caused $70.2 billion worth of damage, left 8.5 million people without power, and destroyed 650,000 homes and was responsible for the deaths of at least 72 Americans.
“New Jersey is experiencing increased effects of climate change — this is a climate crisis and what we are seeing and will continue to see are periods of dryness that lead to drought and wildfires and then followed by periods of big rain events that lead to flooding — so we are going to have too much water excerpt when we don’t have enough of it,” said Jennifer Coffey, executive director of the Association of New Jersey’s Environmental Commissions. “These climate extremes are going to continue for New Jersey and the Northeast for many, many decades to come and we need to prepare ourselves for those impacts and become more resilient. So, we need to shore up our water supplies and also need to increase the intelligence that we use when we map storm water and that’s what these rules do.”
While we continue to debate climate change and the need to stop burning fossil fuels, the physical manifestation of the crisis is all around us whether we choose to make the connections or not. When wildfires on this hemispheric scale burn out of control it should prompt a sense of urgency for us to try and reduce our reliance on burning fossil fuels to power our society.
“This is the time to reject the seven fossil fuel projects here in New Jersey,” said Paula Rogovin, longtime Bergen County environmental activist. “What are they waiting for? It is going to get worse. This is the ultimate teachable moment. My grandson in New York City is in school and they can’t do anything outside. This is the time to recognize it is not getting better. We are not even in the summertime yet. The wildfires are just beginning.”
This morass had been building for days but we were too distracted to really notice how our atmosphere was being consumed by a jaundiced mega-cloud drifting south like a welcome mat from Hades.
And then the kids couldn’t go outside for recess.
Pray for rain to redeem us.
In haze-filled Washington, tourists are undeterred
A cyclist rides under a blanket of haze near the US Capitol © Mandel NGAN / AFP
"That looks creepy," agrees her friend, looking up at the Capitol, whose silhouette can barely be made out in the distance.
The friend, Adriana George, 31, from Tucson, Arizona, adds: "The fog is everywhere and it just seems kind of gloomy." But fortunately, with moderate temperatures and a light morning breeze, "the weather's been great."
Although she suffers from asthma, George says it hasn't bothered her for the past two days.
'Used to the pollution'
Many foreign tourists say they're having a great time despite the haze.
Issued on: 08/06/2023
Washington (AFP) – On many ordinary days, one can gaze down the National Mall from the Washington Monument and clearly see the dome of the US Capitol offset by blue sky.
But today, an acrid haze from wildfires in Canada cloaks the city.
That appeared to not bother some tourists, who strolled along wearing "Trump 2024" baseball caps or freshly purchased hats emblazoned with "Washington DC."
Public schools in the city canceled all outdoor activities due to an air quality alert, but out-of-town teenagers on school trips happily performed acrobatics on the lawn for photos, with the Lincoln Memorial in the background.
One 61-year-old tourist from Nebraska says the haze added an "ethereal" quality that "kind of makes things beautiful."
"It actually happens all the time with us," she says, giving her name only as Diane. "We have controlled burns in Oklahoma and Kansas. So this happens."
Her husband, David, visiting Washington for the first time, nods in agreement. "If a 10 were perfect, still an eight" despite the haze, he says.
Near them, an American tourist on a phone describes what she sees: "It's very smoggy here because of the wildfires in Canada!"
Washington (AFP) – On many ordinary days, one can gaze down the National Mall from the Washington Monument and clearly see the dome of the US Capitol offset by blue sky.
But today, an acrid haze from wildfires in Canada cloaks the city.
That appeared to not bother some tourists, who strolled along wearing "Trump 2024" baseball caps or freshly purchased hats emblazoned with "Washington DC."
Public schools in the city canceled all outdoor activities due to an air quality alert, but out-of-town teenagers on school trips happily performed acrobatics on the lawn for photos, with the Lincoln Memorial in the background.
One 61-year-old tourist from Nebraska says the haze added an "ethereal" quality that "kind of makes things beautiful."
"It actually happens all the time with us," she says, giving her name only as Diane. "We have controlled burns in Oklahoma and Kansas. So this happens."
Her husband, David, visiting Washington for the first time, nods in agreement. "If a 10 were perfect, still an eight" despite the haze, he says.
Near them, an American tourist on a phone describes what she sees: "It's very smoggy here because of the wildfires in Canada!"
A cyclist rides under a blanket of haze near the US Capitol © Mandel NGAN / AFP"That looks creepy," agrees her friend, looking up at the Capitol, whose silhouette can barely be made out in the distance.
The friend, Adriana George, 31, from Tucson, Arizona, adds: "The fog is everywhere and it just seems kind of gloomy." But fortunately, with moderate temperatures and a light morning breeze, "the weather's been great."
Although she suffers from asthma, George says it hasn't bothered her for the past two days.
'Used to the pollution'
Many foreign tourists say they're having a great time despite the haze.
An airliner takes off through the haze from Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport on June 8, 2023 © SAUL LOEB / AFP
Choi Yoonjung, from South Korea, explains with a smile, thanks to a friend's translation, that "it's like this" in the south of South Korea when it comes to pollution.
The same was true of Hemadri Vora, 42, who had come from Mumbai in India and was spending the day in Washington with her family after a visit to New York. "We wouldn't feel it that much because we're kind of used to the pollution!" she laughs.
The day before, while visiting the Statue of Liberty and not having followed the news from Canada, she admits she was "a bit scared" when she saw the haze, thinking it was an incoming storm and not smoke from northern fires.
She just regrets that the photos of her trip aren't under blue skies. "Obviously, the pictures are not going to be very clear," she says.
While many Washingtonians heeded public health warnings and wore masks outdoors on Thursday, few tourists did so.
On Wednesday, the Environmental Protection Agency told AFP that more than 100 million Americans were affected by air quality alerts due to the drifting smoke from Canada.
Until it clears, perhaps this weekend, visitors are trying to enjoy the city.
As sirens sounded and police cars sped down Constitution Avenue near the White House, tourists speculated.
"That must be the British prime minister," Rishi Sunak, who is visiting Washington, says one man excitedly.
© 2023 AFP
Choi Yoonjung, from South Korea, explains with a smile, thanks to a friend's translation, that "it's like this" in the south of South Korea when it comes to pollution.
The same was true of Hemadri Vora, 42, who had come from Mumbai in India and was spending the day in Washington with her family after a visit to New York. "We wouldn't feel it that much because we're kind of used to the pollution!" she laughs.
The day before, while visiting the Statue of Liberty and not having followed the news from Canada, she admits she was "a bit scared" when she saw the haze, thinking it was an incoming storm and not smoke from northern fires.
She just regrets that the photos of her trip aren't under blue skies. "Obviously, the pictures are not going to be very clear," she says.
While many Washingtonians heeded public health warnings and wore masks outdoors on Thursday, few tourists did so.
On Wednesday, the Environmental Protection Agency told AFP that more than 100 million Americans were affected by air quality alerts due to the drifting smoke from Canada.
Until it clears, perhaps this weekend, visitors are trying to enjoy the city.
As sirens sounded and police cars sped down Constitution Avenue near the White House, tourists speculated.
"That must be the British prime minister," Rishi Sunak, who is visiting Washington, says one man excitedly.
© 2023 AFP
Canada may be on track for its worst wildfire season ever
Jenna Moon
Jenna Moon
Semafor
Jun 7, 2023
Fires are burning from coast to coast, with Quebec and Alberta among the hardest-hit provinces. As of Wednesday, around 160 fires were burning in Quebec — Canada’s second most-populous province — and Alberta faced another 64. Around 10,000 people were evacuated from their homes in Quebec, though that number is falling as some fires come under control.
Millions of residents across the U.S. and Canada are under air quality warnings, and as of early Wednesday the air quality in New York City was the second-worst in the world, according to IQAir.com. New York measured a 160 on the U.S. Air Quality Index (AQI), 14.5 times higher than the World Health Organization’s annual guideline. In Detroit, the AQI was 156, and in Toronto, it measured at 107, or 7.4 times more than the WHO guidelines.
NOTABLE
Wildfires in Canada are on track to become bigger and more intense with climate change. As Emma McIntosh wrote in the Toronto Star in 2019, three of the country’s most destructive fires occurred in the past 20 years, and the area which has burned since the ’70s has doubled.
Jun 7, 2023
REUTERS/Carlos Osorio
THE NEWS
Wildfires are burning across Canada, and much of the country is experiencing a worse-than-usual fire season.
Dry conditions over the spring and a warm winter have contributed to the issue. Major cities, including Toronto, New York City, and Ottawa faced air quality warnings Tuesday and Wednesday as smoke from the fires spread across Ontario and Quebec, and the Northeastern U.S.
KNOW MORE
Canada is on track to have one of its most destructive fire seasons in recent years. According to estimates by the Canadian Wildland Fire Information System, more than 3.5 million hectares of land have burned as of June — around 10 times higher than would be normal for the month — and almost on par with the entirety of the 2017 fire season.
THE NEWS
Wildfires are burning across Canada, and much of the country is experiencing a worse-than-usual fire season.
Dry conditions over the spring and a warm winter have contributed to the issue. Major cities, including Toronto, New York City, and Ottawa faced air quality warnings Tuesday and Wednesday as smoke from the fires spread across Ontario and Quebec, and the Northeastern U.S.
KNOW MORE
Canada is on track to have one of its most destructive fire seasons in recent years. According to estimates by the Canadian Wildland Fire Information System, more than 3.5 million hectares of land have burned as of June — around 10 times higher than would be normal for the month — and almost on par with the entirety of the 2017 fire season.
Fires are burning from coast to coast, with Quebec and Alberta among the hardest-hit provinces. As of Wednesday, around 160 fires were burning in Quebec — Canada’s second most-populous province — and Alberta faced another 64. Around 10,000 people were evacuated from their homes in Quebec, though that number is falling as some fires come under control.
Millions of residents across the U.S. and Canada are under air quality warnings, and as of early Wednesday the air quality in New York City was the second-worst in the world, according to IQAir.com. New York measured a 160 on the U.S. Air Quality Index (AQI), 14.5 times higher than the World Health Organization’s annual guideline. In Detroit, the AQI was 156, and in Toronto, it measured at 107, or 7.4 times more than the WHO guidelines.
NOTABLE
Wildfires in Canada are on track to become bigger and more intense with climate change. As Emma McIntosh wrote in the Toronto Star in 2019, three of the country’s most destructive fires occurred in the past 20 years, and the area which has burned since the ’70s has doubled.
Wildfires: Forests need more fire, not less
Adam Cole
Semafor
Updated Jun 8, 2023
THE AGENDA
Many western forests need frequent, low-severity wildfires to thrive. But in the 20th century, the US government vowed to put out all forest fires and outlawed traditional burning by indigenous peoples. Most experts think that this policy contributed to denser forests … and the massive, deadly wildfires that now race through them.
“These are not your grandfather’s fires,” Senator Ron Wyden told me. “They’re bigger, they’re hotter, they’re more powerful. Communities wiped down to ashes — that’s what we’re dealing with.”
With temperatures rising and the western drought deepening, wildfires will be part of life for the foreseeable future. But there is wide consensus that we can dampen the impacts of those megafires by carefully reintroducing smaller fires to the landscape. That could mean letting some natural fires run their course. Or that could mean agencies and tribal groups setting more prescribed fires. This will require a massive increase in labor – there are many more burn projects needed than there are trained workers. And it will require policymakers to understand that the risk of prescribed fires is much smaller than the risk of doing nothing.
Watch above for our latest episode of our series The Agenda, about the policy problems at the top of Washington's to-do list and the people trying to solve them, and subscribe to Semafor on YouTube for all our videos.
WHAT'S NEXT
The Inflation Reduction Act allocated $1.8 billion for “hazardous fuels reduction” in America’s forests. Those dollars are already funding some prescribed burns … and also “thinning” projects. In the latter, crews cut down small and medium trees to try and rob fires of their fuel. It’s a painstaking process — and the value of the harvested trees doesn’t come close to covering the expense. But there’s a bigger issue: a growing body of evidence suggests that thinning can often make wildfires worse unless it’s followed by a burn. Time will tell how much the Forest Service is actually investing in prescribed fire vs. thinning — and what impact these fuels reduction projects will have on the future fire seasons.
Meanwhile, Wyden and his colleagues from Colorado, John Hickenlooper and Michael Bennet have introduced a bill that would send $60 billion to forest “restoration and resilience projects” including “reintroduction of characteristic, low-intensity fire in frequent fire regime ecosystems.”
NOTABLE
Data-visualizations from the New York Times show what makes the issue of wildfires so urgent: more and more people are living in the path of destruction.
Oregon Public Broadcasting has led the coverage of wildfires in the pacific northwest, including this piece by Tony Schick and Jes Burns on timber industry efforts to push logging as a wildfire mitigation strategy.
Susan Prichard, the University of Washington fire ecologist featured in this video, lays out the mainstream scientific consensus on wildfire management in this review paper. She and her co-authors write, “an intentional merging of Indigenous and western knowledge is needed to guide future forest conditions and restore active fire regimes to western North American forests.”
Ecologist Dominick DellaSala (also featured) argues that most fuels reduction projects are ineffectual or counterproductive. He’s part of a vocal faction of conservationists often at odds with the Forest Service and mainstream scientists.
Environmental scientist Melinda Adams examines “the powerful Indigenous healing that is nourished by the constructive action of cultural burning” in this recent paper.
“Elemental: Reimagine Wildfire” — a documentary film by Trip Jennings – explores our changing understanding of fire and shows how different people are learning to live alongside fire-adapted forests.
Adam Cole
Semafor
Updated Jun 8, 2023
THE AGENDA
Many western forests need frequent, low-severity wildfires to thrive. But in the 20th century, the US government vowed to put out all forest fires and outlawed traditional burning by indigenous peoples. Most experts think that this policy contributed to denser forests … and the massive, deadly wildfires that now race through them.
“These are not your grandfather’s fires,” Senator Ron Wyden told me. “They’re bigger, they’re hotter, they’re more powerful. Communities wiped down to ashes — that’s what we’re dealing with.”
With temperatures rising and the western drought deepening, wildfires will be part of life for the foreseeable future. But there is wide consensus that we can dampen the impacts of those megafires by carefully reintroducing smaller fires to the landscape. That could mean letting some natural fires run their course. Or that could mean agencies and tribal groups setting more prescribed fires. This will require a massive increase in labor – there are many more burn projects needed than there are trained workers. And it will require policymakers to understand that the risk of prescribed fires is much smaller than the risk of doing nothing.
Watch above for our latest episode of our series The Agenda, about the policy problems at the top of Washington's to-do list and the people trying to solve them, and subscribe to Semafor on YouTube for all our videos.
WHAT'S NEXT
The Inflation Reduction Act allocated $1.8 billion for “hazardous fuels reduction” in America’s forests. Those dollars are already funding some prescribed burns … and also “thinning” projects. In the latter, crews cut down small and medium trees to try and rob fires of their fuel. It’s a painstaking process — and the value of the harvested trees doesn’t come close to covering the expense. But there’s a bigger issue: a growing body of evidence suggests that thinning can often make wildfires worse unless it’s followed by a burn. Time will tell how much the Forest Service is actually investing in prescribed fire vs. thinning — and what impact these fuels reduction projects will have on the future fire seasons.
Meanwhile, Wyden and his colleagues from Colorado, John Hickenlooper and Michael Bennet have introduced a bill that would send $60 billion to forest “restoration and resilience projects” including “reintroduction of characteristic, low-intensity fire in frequent fire regime ecosystems.”
NOTABLE
Data-visualizations from the New York Times show what makes the issue of wildfires so urgent: more and more people are living in the path of destruction.
Oregon Public Broadcasting has led the coverage of wildfires in the pacific northwest, including this piece by Tony Schick and Jes Burns on timber industry efforts to push logging as a wildfire mitigation strategy.
Susan Prichard, the University of Washington fire ecologist featured in this video, lays out the mainstream scientific consensus on wildfire management in this review paper. She and her co-authors write, “an intentional merging of Indigenous and western knowledge is needed to guide future forest conditions and restore active fire regimes to western North American forests.”
Ecologist Dominick DellaSala (also featured) argues that most fuels reduction projects are ineffectual or counterproductive. He’s part of a vocal faction of conservationists often at odds with the Forest Service and mainstream scientists.
Environmental scientist Melinda Adams examines “the powerful Indigenous healing that is nourished by the constructive action of cultural burning” in this recent paper.
“Elemental: Reimagine Wildfire” — a documentary film by Trip Jennings – explores our changing understanding of fire and shows how different people are learning to live alongside fire-adapted forests.
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