In last month’s post I wrote about a key signal of climate change and its impact on food systems while covering the massive flooding in the Emilia Romagna region of Italy.  This event was especially poignant as it overlapped a course I was teaching in the region on the food-water-energy nexus with a specific focus on food systems transformation. 

The flooding reinforced a key theme that runs throughout my courses: there’s nothing quite like visible signals of food system externalities and/or the impacts of climate change and its associated threats to awaken us to the need for all of us to become change leaders – driving efforts to create a sustainable, regenerative global food system which in turn lowers emissions, mitigates warming, and advances progress to multiple Sustainable Development Goals. 

It’s essential to continually emphasize the critical linkage between the food system and emissions-driven warming.  The global food system accounts for more than one-third of annual greenhouse gas emissions, while WWF recently noted that wasted food alone accounts for 8-10% of annual emissions.   

And despite having been exposed to it for well over a decade, I am continually struck by FAO’s 2011 reporting on the carbon footprint of global food wastage: if ranked as a country, global food wastage would be the third largest emitter of greenhouse gases behind the U.S. and China.  Stunning.

Indeed, a recent report by UK-based WRAP underscored the need to fix food systems to achieve net zero goals, noting that “we cannot achieve net zero emissions without tackling food loss and waste.”

Smoke Signals – National & Global

Of course, other major systems (such as energy and transportation) are key drivers of emissions as well and are in critical need of an acceleration of sustainable solutions – which we can all influence.

While in Italy focusing on the linkage between food and climate change, I was also cognizant of the stories of the far-reaching smoke and haze from the hundreds of Canadian wildfires impacting multiple cities in the U.S. – bringing back memories of the haze I witnessed in Maine from fires burning over 3,000 miles away in the Pacific Northwest two years ago.

It was clear to me from afar that the smoke from the Canadian fires was serious, and, like the flood damage in Emilia Romagna, was another very visible signal of the effects of emissions-driven warming.

From Europe, I followed several key points from news coverage of the fires early in June, noting the impact on millions across the United States:

In a piece in Vox from June 7th, Benji Jones stated that wildfire smoke from Canada’s fires had “wafted into New York City, Boston, and other eastern metropolises, engulfing skylines and putting millions of people at risk from air pollution,” adding that during the week New York City had the worst air quality of any major city in the world.  Jones described how climate change is heating up the planet, with warmer air sucking the moisture out of trees – making them more flammable and extending fire seasons throughout the US and Canada.

That same day, in a piece in The Wall Street Journal, Lukpat and Vieira reported that millions of Americans in the Midwest and Northeast were under air quality alerts as a result of the smoke from the Canadian wildfires.  They added that Canada’s wildfire season was off to a “blistering” start, with over 8 million acres burned through early June compared to a normal figure of 600,000.

CNN reported that New York City had an Air Quality Index (AQI) of 484 on June 7th, not only well beyond the hazardous classification line of 300, but the highest level on record since the 1960s.  In addition, Philadelphia issued a “code red” alert, warning certain residents to remain indoors. 

The hazardous air quality conditions in New York City and Philadelphia even led Major League Baseball to cancel scheduled games for the Yankees and the Phillies, which is no small feat, as sports fans know.

The Washington Post reported that cities such as Toronto, Minneapolis, Chicago and Detroit were experiencing some of the highest particulate levels in the world, while smoke from the fires had drifted across the Atlantic and was damaging air quality in parts of Europe.   

On June 8th, The Wall Street Journal stated that more 40 million Americans lived in areas that had air quality that was unhealthy or worse on the prior day.  Further, the air-quality reading for New York City reached 413 – well beyond the hazardous range that calls for individuals to stay indoors.  The Journal added that more than 100 million people throughout the U.S. were affected by air quality alerts as a result of the smoke — that’s nearly one third of the U.S. population.

In a separate Journal article that same day, Jim Carlton and colleagues reported that wildfires “are becoming bigger and more frequent as forests around the world increasingly dry out amid the warming climate.”  One contributing expert noted that the current wildfire situation indicates that “the climate crisis is here and now,” while another added that climate change is “supercharging” wildfires. 

An article on the following day noted that the smoky conditions that turned New York skies orange were worse in cities further south, including Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington, and Richmond, resulting in delayed flights due to low visibility, school closures, and closures of facilities such as the Philadelphia and Washington zoos.    

So the extensive coverage made it extremely clear that millions of Americans were experiencing the effects of the Canadian wildfires through hazardous air conditions and that multiple systems were being affected – transportation, education, and health care, to name a few.  And the global impact of the fires was also clear – smoke from fires in Canada was not only significantly impacting life in American cities hundreds of miles away but also drifting across the Atlantic into Europe, reminding us that country borders are irrelevant with respect to climate change.

Reflections: Taking it Personally

Reports of the impact of the smoke from the fires prompted me to check in with colleagues and family members around the East Coast to get their reactions to what they were experiencing. 

Their responses were quite compelling, and in my mind, highly motivational. 

One of my colleagues in Philadelphia noted:  “When I stepped out, the first thing that came to mind was that the air quality felt like I was back in Mumbai – which is not at all a good thing but it also showcases the exposure to pollution that several countries are experiencing on a daily basis.  However, I had never seen the kind of smog and color that had engulfed the city.  We experience heavy smog in Delhi during the winter months but the color is nothing like this…I definitely felt like I wanted to stay indoors until things cleared up due to the fear of how the air quality could impact my health and the health of those around me.”

One individual from northern Virginia stated that the haze from the fires was “downright apocalyptic.” 

Another from the DC Metro region noted that he felt slight irritation in his lungs and cancelled outdoor activity on the worst day of the smoke, saying that at one point DC had the worst air quality of any city in the world.  He added that the skies over DC were clearly in a thick haze, and that there was a time when neither the Washington Monument nor the National Cathedral were clearly visible.  Days earlier, he had experienced the smoke in Providence and worried that it was a signal of a new normal.  Significantly, he added that these events made him realize how national borders are meaningless with respect to climate change.

One individual from New Jersey described how she went to work on a clear, sunny day, but upon emerging at the end of the day she immediately thought that there must be a massive fire nearby.  She added, “the smell was unbearable, the sky was orange and hazy with smoke, you could feel it in your lungs.”  And the haze lingered.  She further noted that while driving around doing errands the atmosphere “looked not unlike Mars.” 

Her final comment aligns with that of a Taiwanese representative in New York, who commented to The Wall Street Journal that New York “looks like Mars, and smells like a cigar.”

Last, another individual from New Jersey noted that the afternoon’s yellow haze was “weird” and “spooky,” and that the burnt smell in the air brought back memories of his experience in New York in the aftermath of the 9-11 attacks.

Moving from Signals to Action

Like the floods in Emilia Romagna, the smoke and the associated fires in Canada are important visual signals of the need for urgent action to change our systems – and our behaviors – to sharply reduce greenhouse gas emissions to mitigate global warming.

As with all such visible signals, the key question is, how will we react?  And how quickly?

Millions of Americans experienced the smoky conditions from the Canadian fires, smoke which also impacted European cities.  Major systems, and countless lives, were disrupted.

The Economist noted that for a period in June the air quality of the U.S. was at its worst in a decade, and that for a time New York City was the most polluted major city in the world.  So millions of Americans may begin to understand how their air quality will regress in the face of climate change. 

And in a Journal piece on June 14th entitled Forest Fires Are Bellwether Of Change, Dartmouth climate scientist Justin Mankin noted that “the pattern of a rapid onset of drought, considerable wildfire and then air quality impacts associated with it are all consistent with global warming.”   

There may actually be a silver lining to the scale and connectivity of this event, prompting Americans to awaken to the need for more earnest action and policy measures to reduce emissions, and the connectivity issue reinforces the need for nations to collaborate to address global warming – because it is folly to assume that physical borders can protect individual nations and their populations from the impacts of climate change.

We should all reflect on the key takeaways:

  • This is not just a one-off  
  • Climate change is here and now
  • It is disrupting our lives in significant ways, and at high cost
  • It knows no borders
  • The impacts are increasingly visible; the signals are continuous

Let’s not waste these powerful signals, let’s harness them for action.

We can all be influencers of change, and we must. 

This is not a case of smoke and mirrors.

Where there’s smoke, there’s fire, and an important signal of the need to address climate change with urgency.