This new normal of near-constant wildfire smoke annoys me as much as the next person. But it serves as a reminder that we share one fragile atmosphere that we’re collectively screwing up. Fruitless to waste all this energy pointing fingers like children when we should be joining hands to fix this. It’s like nature’s warning signal.

Whether it be wildfire smoke, a global pandemic, or heat waves, nature know no geopolitical borders. So maybe instead of squabbling over whose smoke is whose, we could acknowledge that we’re all in this smoldering mess together. We only have one planet to live on, and we only have one atmosphere to breathe from.

(just food for thought)

  • 9488fcea02a9@sh.itjust.works
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    1 year ago

    Wrong… Blame fossil fuel industry, blame the auto industry, blame tax cuts that result in the defunding of forestry management. and then most of all, blame ourselves for enabling all of the above

    THEN we can join hands and fix this

    • T0rrent01@lemmy.worldOP
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      1 year ago

      You’re 100% right. But my point is, international cooperation is key, and every country has a part to play. As we’ve all seen during the COVID pandemic politicizing natural disasters is a recipe for disaster, and unfortunately, it appears as though we haven’t learnt a thing.

      • YarRe@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        We have. Politicians who gobble fossil industry cock do not care. This is intentional and no amount of “learning” helps as long as oligarchs exist. Sorry.

        • juusukun@lemmy.ca
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          1 year ago

          “politicizing disasters” to me just sounds like exploring the possibility that there are people and actions to blame…

          • HappyExodus@lemmy.ca
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            1 year ago

            Disasters are kinda act of God. But doubling the odds (prob more like 10x) of having one is a human decision.

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    1 year ago

    American here. I was browsing all and saw this.

    I’m not blaming Canada. I’m not aware that anyone is blaming Canada. The smoke comes from Canada. I’m frustrated with the smoke. So are you.

    IMO it’s like when a Canada goose shits in my yard. Im angry at the goose not Canada.

  • IninewCrow@lemmy.ca
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    1 year ago

    Welcome to the dystopian future … where we argue and fight with one another and maybe even start at a war or two about why our planet is falling apart … rather than admitting we are all the problem and that we should do something about it.

    • T0rrent01@lemmy.worldOP
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      1 year ago

      The massive overreaction and resistance to COVID mandates gives us a bitter taste of what’s to come. Like, if a certain segment of the population can’t even handle relaxing at home for a little while and wearing pieces of cloth, they’ll sure be in for a rough awakening once the severity of the climate situation necessitates measures like, I don’t know, vegetarian mandates due to meat shortages, outdoor or N95 mask mandates for all the smoke like we’re seeing now, or water rationing like what California has been doing for drought.

  • nbailey@lemmy.ca
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    1 year ago

    Some people seem to think that you can rope off a “designated peeing area” in the swimming pool…

    We all share one climate – it doesn’t matter where in the world you burn the coal or where the fires break out, we all suffer together. That’s the reality that a lot of people all over the world don’t seem to be willing to understand.

  • fleet@lemmy.ca
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    1 year ago

    I’ve seen no mention of forest management in this thread. I’m no expert, and I realise this issue is a few concurrent problems, but it is, at least, partially Canada’s fault for allowing clearcut forestry methods on such a broad scale. Old growth forests are somehwat resistant to fires. The undergrowth burns, but many trees do not. The “forests” planted by the forestry industry are essentially monocultures and they burn hot and burn fast.

  • PerogiBoi@lemmy.ca
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    1 year ago

    My province blamed the latest wildfires on offroad vehicles and as a result banned the use of any off-road vehicle.

    I’ve got an electric dirtbike that doesn’t even get warm anywhere and I was asked to dismount over this risk. Kinda silly if you ask me.

    • Darkonion@kbin.social
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      More nuanced rules would be good in some ways, but I think more nuanced rules would require a larger government and more expensive services to oversee, or even to make such rules. I would be in support of trying that, as I think the long term benefits will exist, but many are not as there is an increase in short term pain because we’d have to pay long before we’d see a benefit, and people would have to keep voting to be in pain before results are realized. Hard to sell.

  • jerkface@lemmy.ca
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    1 year ago

    You know what? Whether or not these wildfires are a direct consequence of Canadian climate policy or not, Canada does not get nearly the blame it deserves for continually raping this planet and its people.

  • Smk@lemmy.ca
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    1 year ago

    Is this even true ? Is there anyone blaming Canada for this ?

      • Smk@lemmy.ca
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        1 year ago

        They are basically the US but with healthcare and French people!

        • Cl1nk@sh.itjust.works
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          1 year ago

          The Healthcare is a total wreck. Here you get a 50 % chance of surviving instead of a 100% of going broke

              • Smk@lemmy.ca
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                1 year ago

                That only means that healthcare need more funding, not that healthcare is bad.

                If I were to find one case, just like that in the US, would you say that no healthcare is bad ?

                • Cl1nk@sh.itjust.works
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                  1 year ago

                  I agree, one case is not enough to justify calling the whole system a wreck. The general state, any day each hospital and more clinics are overloaded and very inefficient.

                  Lots of medical personnel left during the pandemic and never hired enough to make up for the loss.

                  I’ve had care in private hospitals in other places (poorer countries) and they were at least an order of magnitude better. The hyperbole of total wreck mostly means my disappointment in the system

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    1 year ago

    I’ve not seen, or perhaps not paid attention to, any blame game. This is exactly what all the modeling for climate change predicts, and it’s gonna get worse. So if people want to point fingers, the list of countries and industries that have produced most CHG gases ever, and currently, is easily available online.

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    We need to start taking forest management seriously in this country.

    Human development has disrupted the natural forest cycle, and putting out every fire that threatens us is only making things worse. Couple that with the unknown consequences of climate change going forward, we need to be far more proactive than reactive.

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    1 year ago

    Wait. Are people blaming anybody for this?

    It’s everyone’s fault. Especially big corps, energy companies and some governments with less than good environmental policies that have been increasing greenhouse gas emissions for decades now. And the governments that have enabled them to do so.

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    Get ready for the blame game, because as climate change intensifies, that’s gonna happen over and over again. We’re leaving the “this may be real but is it man-made?” phase and entering the “okay, but it wasn’t MY fault” phase.

  • mPony@kbin.social
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    They’re just jealous that we even still have trees that can burn. Sorry, Manhattan.

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    1 year ago

    The title of your post makes me think of the song…

    Blame Canada, blame Canada with their…

    My family to the north, hold strong. It sucks, and after spending several summers behind doors away from wildfire smoke, all I can say is stay safe and healthy. Our elders have failed the world and we’re paying for it.