What can we do about wildfire smoke and hazy skies? As it turns out, quite a lot.
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I was raised on stories of heroes and heroines. If there is a story about a man in a mask or a woman defending the downtrodden, I have likely read it. Or watched it, or my favourite way as a child, listened to someone tell it. Most likely, that would be my dad, a military man to the core; he could tell a good story when he could. After his passing, I was going through his stash of comics – there weren’t that many; he wasn’t a collector – and I found some old favourites. He was a sucker for heroic stories, and frankly, so am I.
But what if the stories were all wrong?
The view of my mum’s garden in Gurgaon, North IndiaI just got back from our annual summer vacation to visit family in India. This year our trip was longer than usual because we stopped en route in London, visited Scotland, then on to Delhi and the area, a quick visit to Kanyakumari, the tippy tip of the Indian peninsula, and then back home to Toronto. It was a doozie of a 5-week whirlwind with family, food and fun packed into, as always, incredibly fast-moving days. For years, my family and I have taken this trip. Similar itineraries, though this time things were a whole lot different.
Climate change is here, and it’s everywhere
Extreme heatwaves in London and Scotland. Who connects English summers with heatwaves? It’s us now. They’re the norm every year.
Unpredictable forest fires in Spain, with one in particular that was finally deemed under control just 50 km outside of Madrid.
Extreme heat and a fast-moving forest fire in the historic forest of Fontainebleau 67 kms outside of Paris.
This was Europe in July.
Today, August 7, Italy put all 27 major cities on red alert due to extremely high temps.
In northern India, unheard-of, constantly high 45+ °C temperatures continue. Droughts and heatwaves in the South Asian subcontinent have been in all the headlines for several years now. This one story of Mahalakshmi, a 50-year-old worker from Andhra Pradesh, southern India, has really stayed with me. A middle-aged mom who worked her job outdoors all day, and when she got home, she and her husband fed the kids and got ready for bed. Mahalakshmi was exhausted and collapsed. The doctor later called it death from heatstroke. While this one story is making headlines, it’s not an isolated incident. Heatstroke deaths are increasingly common in India.
The story back home in Toronto has been about heat and wildfires too, where hazy smoke, red skies and poor air quality mean “wildfire season” is starting earlier and lasting longer every year. Just like the extreme heat in England, Spain, France, and parts of India. Add in drought conditions and dropping groundwater tables, and this year, forest fires are even more unpredictable and aggressive. And we’re only halfway through summer.
Climate Solutions Fast & Strong
This isn’t breaking news, though. This forecast was in the UN IPCC Special 1.5 degree report back in 2018. If you have heard me speak at an event, you know about this report – I talk about it a lot. Environmental researchers, climate scientists and indigenous leaders all around the world have been calling for change in our systems for decades.
The evidence is impossible to ignore, you would think, but here we are with political leaders ignoring all the solutions-focused advice and roadmaps, and still refusing to put systems in place to help us reduce emissions and waste. Here’s looking at you, Mr Carney.
How can we tackle climate change?
Collective Action Going Forward.
In addition to heat and droughts, the other remarkable event I noticed everywhere we went was the protests. Hundreds of thousands, in some places even millions of people – students, young people, trade unionists, workers, farmers – were out on the streets demanding that their voices and needs be heard. I was struck in particular by the youth in India who are representing the country’s non-violent, change-making history of freedom movements by demanding, for starters, change in the education system. I am deeply moved by the resolve of this movement, and have been sharing my support on Instagram. Here’s a recap and update on where the movement is at right now – written by Arundhati Roy, titled “Unarmed and Dangerous.”
People everywhere, including Canadians coast to coast, are getting together to acknowledge the inherent inequalities that hold up current systems. Climate change is a big part of that, as its effects are being felt in every aspect of our lives by those who are struggling the most.
Climate change is the formidable challenge of our times. And it’s up to us to face it.
In every great story, there’s a moment of impossible challenge. The world is in danger, the villain seems unstoppable, and the stakes couldn’t be higher. The hero steps forward, cape and all. The people look up to exclaim, “There’s our saviour.”
These are the stories I grew up listening to. But what if they were wrong? Not about the impossible-seeming challenge but in who faced it. Who rises to save the day?
What if the rescue we were waiting for was here already?
We are our own heroes. Not a chosen few. Not the special and selected with superpowers or capes. It’s all of us. You, me, your neighbour, and mine too, and the people we don’t know who live on the other end of the street. We all have the superpower.
It’s in how we show up in our choices every day.
>It’s what we spend on every time we open our wallets.
>It’s who we support with our attention and resources.
We are the heroes we have been waiting for.
It’s time.
Heroes, convene.
Btw, I am creating a library of free resources. Stay in touch if you would like to hear about it. If you receive this newsletter in your inbox, you’re on the list already!
With love,
From a human