5 Tips to Stay Healthy and Safe in Quagmires of Wildfire Smoke While You Keep Onward into Our Clean Energy Era
Stay safe from code maroon air quality alerts and orange skies
5 Tips to Stay Healthy and Safe in Quagmires of Wildfire Smoke While You Keep Onward into Our Clean Energy Era
The wildfire smoke streaming into the East Coast of the US is no joke, and we should know to expect more fossil-fueled disruption like this until we clean energize and electrify emissions to net zero. But beyond keeping onwards scaling clean energy, there are actions you can take to both protect yourself and families as we fortify communities with clean air solutions and renewable energy sources that don’t exacerbate wildfire risk.
First, check out the Air Quality Index for your area by zip code: https://www.iqair.com/us/usa some threshold an AQI of 100 as unsafe. This is showing PM2.5 concentration in Washington is currently 22.3 times the WHO annual air quality guideline value, UGH.
Take extra precaution if you are sensitive and/or suffering from resiptory illness. And stay vigilant to help struggling neighbors: most especially vulnerable groups of folks, which tend to be youth, elderly, underserved, infirm, and outdoor workers.
Limit your outdoor activity where possible– I’d recommend finding indoor workout spaces for running. Use an air purifier, with a HEPA filter, indoors. Keep windows closed, and use fans and air conditioning to keep air flowing. And when trekking outside, wearing N95 masks will help.
Look to your local weather forecasters for when conditions are expected to improve, but from what I’ve seen in NWS forecasts is an unchanging atmospheric pattern that may keep wildfire smoke wafting into the US for the next few days.
Advocate for structural changes to policies that invest in and protect public health, such as (a clean energy economy, yes! and) improving ventilation in public spaces and air quality standard protections for outdoor workers exposed to respiratory hazards. Vote, volunteer, donate. And keep clean energizing onwards knowing a climate safe future is possible, if we act now.
Here’s a evergreen explainer from ClimateCentral on WIldfire and Air Quality: https://www.climatecentral.org/climate-matters/wildfires-air-quality-2017
Here’s some Washington Post reporting to reference on this: https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2023/wildfire-smoke-air-quality-health-exposure/
Here’s more reporting on the wildfire climate connection, specific to the US East Coast: https://atmos.earth/wildfires-northeast-climate-change/
For the weather trackers and climate mappers who want to see both the smoke and fire: https://fire.airnow.gov/
Here are graphics to personalize to share the climate connection to wildfire risk: https://www.climatecentral.org/climate-matters/fire-weather-2023
Here’s a poem these skies inspired:
Amber Haze Skies Code Maroon High Air Quality Index Reading East/West Trauma Takes When It's Global North / South There Are No Higher Stakes No More Lucky Skyscapes/Escapes Looking Ahead Don't Fordread For Some Sun Will Come Shroud Tomorrow In Particulate Matters Mote Most Polluted Parts Per Million Atmosphere Horrorizon/Glorizon