From British Columbia to Hawaii, North America is experiencing an unprecedented fire season and surrounding regions are increasingly exposed to smoke from the fires.
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As New York experienced in June, when the city was engulfed in smoke from the fires in Quebec, hundreds of miles away.
Here’s what we know and don’t know about the air pollution caused by these fires.
what we know
Particulate matter is one of the characteristics of fire smoke.
Substances less than 2.5 microns (PM2.5) in diameter, the diameter of a human hair, are “particularly hazardous to human health and emitted in very large quantities,” said Rebecca Hornbrook, the National Center’s atmospheric chemistry specialist. to AFP for Atmospheric Research, Colorado.
PM2.5 penetrates deep into the lungs and possibly even into the bloodstream.
By early July, the average American was already exposed to 450 micrograms of smoke per cubic meter year-to-date, more than the entire 2006-2022 period, points out X (ex-Twitter) Marshall Burke, an economist at Stanford University, citing calculations from a lab there.
Volatile organic compounds and invisible substances such as butane and benzene are also of concern. They cause eye and throat irritation and some are known to be carcinogenic.
When these substances mix with nitrogen oxides, which are released during fires but are also present in urban areas from burning fossil fuels, they contribute to the formation of ozone, which can aggravate coughs, asthma, throat and breathing problems.
What we don’t know
While the effects of air pollution from cars have been studied extensively, knowledge about those caused by fires is lacking, Christopher Carlsten, director of the Air Pollution Exposure Laboratory at the University of British Columbia (Canada), told AFP.
According to the twenty or so published studies, “compared to car pollution, smoke appears to have a greater impact on the respiratory system than on the cardiovascular system,” he says.
Nitrogen oxides, which appear to be more associated with cardiovascular problems, are actually more common in automotive pollution.
To find out more, Mr. Carlsten’s lab began conducting human experiments on wood smoke.
There are medical solutions, emphasizes the scientist, who is also a doctor. These include steroid inhalation, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, and air filters. However, more research is needed to find out how best to use them.
Measures coming soon?
According to Joshua Wortzel, chair of the American Psychiatric Association’s Committee on Mental Health and Climate Change, global warming is also affecting our mental well-being.
It can lead to despair, “anger, sadness and fear in the face of anticipated natural disasters,” with rates being much higher in young people than in older people, he told AFP.
Another consequence is psychological “acclimatization,” which helps us deal with new stressors, but can also make us overly used to new dangers.
For Rebecca Hornbrook, what eastern North America has seen in 2023 is what the west has seen for years. And the global situation will only get worse given humanity’s appetite for fossil fuels.
While legislation has already helped reduce emissions from cars and industry, climate action is needed to tackle the scourge of wildfires, she said.
“It’s frustrating to know that we’ve been ringing alarm bells for years and now we see what we warned about,” she said, adding a touch of hope. “Maybe now people will start paying attention and we’ll see some changes.”