For anyone who isn’t aware of what’s been going on in North America right now (besides the World Cup), specifically in several provinces of Canada and the midwest region and parts of the northeast US, we’ve had (and currently experiencing) one of the worst wildfires of recent. At least from my experience considering this is home. Living in the trenches of the pathway from the smoke definitely has its’ effect… and I’ve already felt it.
Over the past few years, Canadian wildfires seem to be a common thing. My first thought was, “how is this a thing? Canada is so much further north. It’s colder!” After doing a little bit of research, the rise in greenhouse gases from the burning of fossil fuel and other such human activities is the cause of climate change. Inevitably, this would lead to in this particular situation, wildfire.
July 16th, 2026
On this morning as I was heading into work, the moment I step foot outside I got a huge whiff of the smell. A lot of my colleagues described it as campfire. But this was a more toxic version of that. Where I live the air quality (AQI) reached as high as maybe 600 or just over. The weather app on our phones considered this not just unhealthy, but hazardous. The way the sky looked covered in such a thick haze made it feel surreal.
When you mix these all together, I was telling some family members of mine that this is probably what it feels like living in a post-apocalyptic wasteland. Sounds ridiculous but unless we make a drastic change, we could very well be headed that way. Deforestation amongst other things could take away our clean air.
So why is there no warning? I’ve had to do a deeper dive into this situation to find out how bad the air quality was in my area that tells me it’s best to stay indoors and do very little activity if possible. I get it, potential tornado warnings in our area sets off a sort of alarm on our phones, but not for this. It’s the air we breathe and it’s contaminated. I saw one too many individuals just going about their lives as if it’s nothing. Just from doing a trash run at work and what, I was only outside for barely 5 minutes, and it left my eyes and throat a bit itchy. I was spitting out my saliva quite a bit at one point and with hindsight, should have worn a mask.
The Next Day
Before heading to bed, the air quality alert was in effect until about noon Friday. But the morning of it all changed. As of right now, it’s been pushed back at least another 24 hours, which tells you the unpredictability of all this. The smell of the air was similar but less potent and same for the haziness of the sky. Seeing the sun through all the haze reminded us of that scene from Star Wars on Tatooine minus the multiple suns.
Besides that, we were still pretty busy at work. I was working in the drive thru for a little bit and did very little connecting with customers since I didn’t want to have the window open for too long. While I’m writing about this moment as it is very recent, the effects like I mentioned earlier was my eyes and just a little bit of itchiness from my throat. Just having to clear it every so often. Although it’s still early, I feel fine overall.
Business As Usual
What’s surprising to me yet not shocking to know is how everything went on as normal. Anyone in the delivery service continued on knowing they are constantly outside. No mask on most people. I suppose they are just building up their immune system or they really don’t care. I remember getting a tornado alert on my phone and being at home I was curious. Staring out my window of which I was essentially pressed up against as the storm approaches near, I would still see people just going about their day all nonchalant like.
It’s one thing to be a storm chaser, but this is something else and that’s just the way it is. Apart from covid, people don’t seem to be slowing down in life. It really is go go go. I’ll continue to adapt from this fast-paced world as I have been. But anything in my control, I’m just going to slow it down and stick to my own pace. I find comfort there.
Whatever happens, stay safe out there.
My Life Experience 