We're under an Air Quality Advisory in Michigan again, with levels in the orange and red zones. This is the second time this year smoke from the Canadian Fires has descended to visibly surround us in an unhealthy haze. While I can recall a similar situation happening for a few days two or three years ago, I have no recollection of this much smoke in the air prior to that time. Which makes me wonder how this recently became such a wide-spread problem and what might have changed with regard to Canadian Forest and Fire Management to bring this about? While the convenient answer is "climate change", I'm of the opinion this may have more to do with arson and decisions made/not made involving the amount of money and effort spent on forestry management.
Added: Today I came on this fact which fits with my recollection:
"In Michigan, we had our first alert for air quality due to smoke in 2023. Since then, we have had 28 days of advisory or alert-level air quality due to wildfire smoke...Several times over the past week, we've been in the top five for worst air quality on the planet, according to IQAir"
6 comments:
During the 60 plus summers I spent at the family cottage on Lake MI (sold in 2018) smoke haze from Canadian wild fires as never a problem. And I mean never. The thought of it wasn't even on the horizon. And now, since the summer of 2023, we've had 28 days of advisories! Something is seriously off.
What part of Michigan are you located? We've had haze for the last week or so in Chicago.
I'm wondering if it isn't a planetary glitch or evolvement that may or may not have anything to do with us human types. In this summer both myself in Iowa and a friend in Kentucky experienced (at different times) a 100 mph derecho wind. It was a first for both of us. And I've been getting some Canadian smoke just recently too. I don't remember getting any smoke from the north when growing up.
The west side of the state. The cottage was located near Holland on the east coast of Lake MI. It had a beautiful white sand beach and a long view of the horizon that would almost allow one to see the curve of the earth. My grandparents were Dutch immigrants who bought the property just prior to the Depression for $4000. A lot of people from Chicago would travel up to that area to cool off during the summer and it eventually became known as the Gold Coast. Property values skyrocketed and when the taxes uncapped with my mom's death, we had to sell it to settle her estate. I still miss it whenever I smell and feel the south wind blowing the warm air (and warm water) up from Chicago. We now live further north, in a wooded area close to the Lake, near the Manistee National Forest. Yet even with all the trees taking in CO2, there's still a visible haze around us.
Baby Trudeau was the Canuckistani Gavin Nuisance. This guy Warner doesn't seem any better.
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