Southeastern Michigan woke up to hazardous levels of wildfire smoke July 16. Not for the first time, but this time, levels at some monitors were reaching 600, 700 and above 1,000 AQI, when an AQI of 300 is generally recognized as hazardous to your health, and dangerous for people with breathing conditions.
This is climate change coming home to roost, on your roof and in your backyard. This is the direct result of higher temperatures that dry out forests and exacerbate droughts across the west and Canada. Temperature goes up, water goes out of the trees as they try to breathe and the wood dries out. Any spark will do to start a fire. And next thing you know, millions of acres of wildfires are producing smoke that drifts with the weather, from west to east.
And to us.
This has been happening regularly. Now, the intensity of this latest round is worse. And, in the short run, unavoidable.
How you can protect yourself against wildfire smoke
What can we do? If you’re vulnerable ‒ asthma, illness ‒ stay inside and run an air purifier. At Wayne State University, we completed research last year that indicates Detroit’s older housing has a higher infiltration rate from the outside than newer housing. In other words, the bad stuff outside gets inside more, and faster. So, every older home should have air purifiers. Stay near them, because most won’t clear the air throughout the home. If you have central air, use an air purifying filter in your air conditioning system.
But no list of “what you can do” should be centered purely on what you can do at home.
This smoke is a direct result of very bad policy. Canada is still producing oil from highly polluting tar sands. U.S. federal policy supports coal fired plants and natural gas, both of which dump tons of carbon dioxide into the air every minute. The federal government has largely killed credits for solar panels, windmills and electric cars, all of which reduce carbon emissions drastically.
Michigan has had deadly wildfires before
Every ounce of that carbon increases temperatures. And every increase in temperatures increases the chance of wildfires and droughts. Realize that for now Michigan has been spared, but in the 19th and early 20th centuries, Michigan had forest fires that spread from one side of the lower peninsula to the other. Horrible fires that killed hundreds of people.
When drought comes to Michigan, the fires will return.
Protect your family from the smoke today. But protect them for the future by getting on the bandwagon to cut carbon emissions by closing coal-fired power plants across the state, reducing the reliance on natural (methane) gas power plants, creating state level incentives for electric cars and rooftop solar.
Do all this and more now, so that the smoke does not return, worse and more frequently.
Consider the consequences for your children and grandchildren.
Lyke Thompson is the director of the Center for Urban Studies at Wayne State University. Submit a letter to the editor at freep.com/letters and we may publish it in print and online.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Sick of wildfire smoke? Bring back tax credits for EVs, solar | Opinion
Reporting by Lyke Thompson, Op-ed contributor / Detroit Free Press
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Lyke Thompson, Op-ed contributor | USA TODAY Network
