49 lines
1.9 KiB
Markdown
49 lines
1.9 KiB
Markdown
---
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layout: post
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title: "The air is fire"
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tags:
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- sonoma
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- santarosa
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---
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Within the last two years the air above Santa Rosa has become thick with ash,
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acrid, and severely unhealthy. A year ago the immensely destructive Tubbs Fire
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bore down on northern Santa Rosa obliterating thousands of homes. For days
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afterwards the skies were filled with the smoke and ash from the epic
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destruction.
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Over the past couple days, the Camp Fire located northeast of Santa Rosa in
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Butte County has exploded to rapidly surpass the destruction laid by the Tubbs
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Fire. In the process it vaulted a significant amount of smoke and ash into the
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atmosphere, much of it settling over Napa and Sonoma counties.
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A thin coat of ash has settled over parked cars. The air visibility rivals an
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especially bad day in Beijing. Each of the past few days the sun has appeared
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orange through the haze, as if we were in a perpetual Los Angeles sunset.
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My fellow citizens quickly donned their N95 masks to filter through the incredibly
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unhealthy air, as we learned to do last October. On Friday, the smoke laid so
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thick over the city that schools canceled classes; lacking snow, Santa Rosa
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children had a "smoke day."
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It is all becoming so routine.
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---
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The fires are but a symptom.
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Like many others here, I find myself increasingly concerned with the very real
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effects of climate change on California. I also find myself more and more
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uncomfortable with the blasé attitudes towards this problem by many
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in California and around the country.
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Regardless of how we react to the aftermath caused by massive wildfires in
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California. I hope others see them for what they are: a reminder of the
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serious consequences of climate change.
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My partner has become congested as if she had a cold. I have been suffering
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from a fairly constant headache. Outside it feels heavy and unpleasant to
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breathe.
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Life will continue to be difficult so long as the air is fire.
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