Already many of us are experiencing something previously unimaginable: We are homesick for the sky. What’s happening there mirrors what’s happening in the Western United States, where the average annual number of wildfires has more than tripled since 1970. Some 37 percent of the cumulative areas burned by forest fires in the Western United States and southwestern Canada between 1986 and 2021 have been influenced by human-caused climate change. Officials call this unprecedented, and in the Northwest Territories alone, fires have already burned more than 60 times the average for a year. It seems certain that air quality concerns will continue as more fires than normal are expected throughout the year, promising more smoke across Canada and the United States in the months to come.

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Persons: Glenn Albrecht, Joanna Macy Organizations: Canada, Western Locations: Australian, Canada, Minnesota, Western United States, Northwest Territories, United States