Wildfires are reversing Canada’s progress on improving air quality
2023 Canadian canadian wildfire not forget to forget, when more 16 million hectares of forests were lostThousands were displaced and smoked in cities in both Canada and America
And it is learned that Canada experienced its worst air pollution level since 1998, according to A. New report Today was released by the Air Quality Life Index (AQLI) of the University of Chicago. At the same time, the report found that pollution levels for the rest of the world did not change much in 2023.
If those levels continue for a person’s lifetime, according to the average Canadian report, about two years of their life expectancy will be lost.
Efforts have been made worldwide including Canada, with a diameter of less than 2.5 micrometers to curb the harmful emissions of a fine particulate matter, also known as PM 2.5. But wildfires are reversing those advances – with serious health results.
One of the authors of the report, Michael Greenstone said, “Air pollution is the greatest external threat to human welfare on the planet, and I do not believe that it is widely recognized.” “Life expectancy is lost for the average person on the planet due to air pollution compared to maternal and hair malnutrition due to alcohol due to alcohol.”
Canada’s national standard is an annual average of 8.8 micrograms 2.5 afternoon of 2.5 Per cubic meter; The World Health Organization has a standard five. In 2023, Canadians were exposed to 9.2 micrograms per cubic meter, or 1.5 times 2022 levels. And more than half of the Canadian people breathed the air which crossed the national standard.
Greenstone stated that both Canada and America have made great progress to curb air pollution in the last few decades, especially by compulsory installation of control devices to reduce pollution from fossil fuel combustion. But he says that it is disappointed to see that it was done in 2023.
“What is really interesting about the inverter in Canada and the United States, they are showing that air pollution is like a zombie we thought we had killed, but it is coming back to life.”
Health effects can be underestimated
While 2023 can be the worst year on record for wildfires, 2025 is the second worst. And research has shown that as we continue to pump greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, Wildfires will only grow,
This Dr. Courtney Howard worries about an emergency room physician and the chairman of the global climate and health alliance at Yelonife.
- What are the questions about wildfire smoke and air quality? send an email to ask@cbc.c.Ca,
“I spend most of my time working on this issue for free, because climate change and its health effects are the biggest threat to our time’s health and health systems,” he said.
But she said that the AQLI report may actually be judged by reducing health results due to the smoking air pollution of wildfire.
A particular environment is under a special environment under the Canadian air-quality statement due to the smoke of the wildfire in the northwestern regions, Suskechewan, Manitoba and parts of Ontario.
Howard said that A study was released earlier this month It has been said that the smoke of the wildfire has poor health results in the given level of PM 2.5 compared to other forms of PM 2.5, such as gas-operated vehicles and industrial emissions.
By not separating different sources, “you will reduce the PM 2.5-east mortality by 93 percent,” said Howard. “Therefore it means that if most of our PM2.5 is due to wildfire smoke, perhaps it damages health that this study is actually a reducing one.”
And, he said, health effects are huge and severe, so small with particles that they go down into the lungs and then enter the bloodstream, which can cause lung diseases like asthma. It is also associated with stroke, heart disease and chronic resistant pulmonary disease.
‘Ghost of fossil fuel’ past ‘
Howard is disappointed to see that the fossil fuel industry is being subsidized by the government, while people fight with consequences such as wildfire smoke.
“We are subsidizing a sun-setting industry in Canada that is actually one of the biggest contributors of health loss for our children,” she said.
Greenstone has a unique analogy for what we are watching today: “I think there is a ghost of fossil fuel about this return of air pollution through forest fire.”
He says that in the recent report where you live, the importance of knowing the quality of air has been highlighted. He said that government action has increased around the world. This includes China, which has seen a 40 percent decrease in air pollution since 2014.
“Air pollution is not just a number,” he said.
“This is an indicator, so that people are healthy, full and capable of living for a long time.”
