Hot Apocalypse Summer
As wretched as the heat waves and forest fires have been, we can't afford to resign ourselves to hopelessness.
Canada is burning. The skies are yellow, orange, and grey. Toronto has been beset with the worst air quality in the world. Around the country, locals are being advised to remain inside to avoid the toxic miasma. Northwestern Ontario is facing multiple evacuation orders. CN Railway had to shut down freight lines. The images on the news and social media are fit for the apocalypse. It’s not the first time we’ve lived through this and it won’t be the last. Wildfires are getting worse, and it’s because of climate change.
We can call this the new normal, because for a certain baseline it is. You see the label everywhere now. For those of a certain age, the weather and attendant scale of natural disasters don’t mirror the childhoods of our youth. The effects of industrial life on the planet are showing up regularly, altering the world we live in and how we move, live, and breathe within it. When you check the forecast day-to-day now, it’s not enough to glance at the risk of rain or the UV index; now, you must consider whether the temperature will bake you, whether the air will poison you.
We may become familiar with extreme weather fast because as a species, we’re good at pattern recognition and, where possible, adapting. To the best of our abilities, we will manage it. There’s a risk, however, that adaptability and resilience will give way to resignation. The last thing we need right now is complacency. We need to recognize the challenges we face and address them head on and at scale.
