7/18/2026
Today I had planned to write about the relationship between father absence (缺爹) and crime. But something happening right now has disrupted my daily routine and keeps pulling my attention elsewhere. I feel compelled to write about it instead.
It's the poor air quality in New York lately. The smoke is so hazardous that I've been avoiding my usual morning walk outdoors.
Toxic smoke is drifting south from Canada, where more than 800 wildfires are burning, degrading air quality across a vast region and triggering air quality alerts as far south as New York.
One fire in northern Ontario, Canada forced residents from local First Nations to evacuate, with one chief saying that her community has been "burnt to ashes".
We are considered lucky because cities bordering Canada are clouded with a thick blanket of smoke. Non-urgent outdoor events had to be cancelled for fear of inhaling toxic fumes.
A few years ago, people tended to think of Canadian wildfires as occasional regional events. Now, they have become recurring international news because of their scale and the enormous amounts of smoke they produce.
There are probably multiple contributing factors:
Warmer temperatures lengthen the wildfire season and dry out vegetation, making forests easier to ignite.
Drier conditions and drought leave trees and underbrush highly combustible.
Lightning ignites many fires in Canada's remote forests, especially during hot, dry summers.
Forest conditions also matter. Decades of fire suppression in some regions can allow fuel to accumulate, making fires more intense once they start.
Human activity—whether accidental or intentional—still causes a portion of wildfires, particularly near populated areas.
Most climate scientists would conclude that climate change is increasing the likelihood of the hot, dry conditions that allow large fires to spread rapidly. This changes the background conditions so that once a fire starts, it is more likely to become large and out of control.
Sadly, when disaster strikes a distant land, its consequences seldom remain local. Smoke freely crosses borders, just as pandemics, pollution, and climate do. We often think of distant disasters as someone else's problem—until they become part of our own daily lives.
Perhaps this is Mother Nature's reminder that, despite the borders we draw on maps, we all breathe the same air. When forests burn hundreds of miles away, we are reminded that we share not only one atmosphere, but also one future.
