On May 30th Canada voted to include the right to a healthy environment in federal law; eight days later I woke up to the smell of smoke in my neighborhood.
I assumed some nearby building had burned and moved on with my day. When I walked outside at noon, it smelled like I was walking in a campfire. There was obviously something wrong, so I checked the news.
Turns out Mother Nature sent Canada’s wildfire smoke to visit the East Coast for a few days. The DC area registered a Code Purple for air quality on the second day — that’s one level worse than a Code Red.
In my mind, the two events are clearly related. Perhaps she’d like us to adopt the right to a healthy environment as well. I read that over half the countries in the world have recognized this right. Of course the U.S. isn’t one of them. No, it seems we prefer to loosen environmental protections rather than strengthen them. Something about developers and money and a couple who couldn’t build their dream house.
Mother Nature is great at sending messages; we are not so great at listening to them.
The Feather