Climate Anxiety
It has been nearly two whole weeks now under this blanket of smoke from the wildfires burning across Alberta, British Columbia and Saskatchewan, and I am sick and tired of this fucking smoke.
I miss clear blue skies, and I hate that I have to choose between being outdoors — inhaling smoke, or wasting the warm brief months of summer stuck indoors to avoid it. Cycling to work and going for a run leaves a bad taste in the back of my throat, and by the end of everyday I feel a strange mental fog. I’m finding it hard to focus on anything other than the smoke. I hate the orange hue that surrounds us — it feels apocalyptic.
I don’t want to live in a world where the rest of our summers are dominated by smoke like this, and I wish more people were enraged by these events. When we speak about climate change, we often discuss its impacts on our children, grandchildren, and subsequent generations, but things already look grim for my own lifetime. Imagine if we never have another smoke free summer again. I would never wish that scenario on anyone, let alone my own [potential] children. This thought alone should encourage others to take immediate action! It disappoints me immensely that many people refuse to take these fires seriously, or that they struggle to see them as symptoms of a greater problem — the climate crisis, which humanity needs to deal with immediately or else suffer even greater consequences.
Western Canada and the United States have already experienced one historic heat wave event this summer, barely a month ago, yet another one is looming on the horizon, and I can only anticipate the harmful effect this will have on the fires that are currently raging across the continent.
One effect of climate change that terrifies me more than others is water scarcity. Living in Canada, near the Rocky Mountains and the headwaters of many major rivers, I have never personally experienced water scarcity at any point in my life, and I recognize how privileged I am to have lived in that position for thirty years. But, what happens when our winters are no longer cold enough and/or long enough to replenish the freshwater we need to sustain our society?
Even if water scarcity doesn’t impact Canada as drastically as other regions, is Canada prepared to defend its borders from a military occupation by neighboring nations (i.e., the United States) which might seek to monopolize our remaining freshwater resources for themselves? Resource wars are not unheard of, but the prospect of a war for water — a resource paramount for human survival on Earth, is what scares me the most about climate change. I don’t want to live in a water scarce world, and I sure as hell don’t want to bring any children into that world either.
I want to do my part in helping fight climate change so that future generations might have the chance to enjoy life on Earth in a similar manner to the way I have been fortunate to experience. But, I also want others to recognize the gravity of the situation and take action, because I would also like to enjoy my remaining summers on this planet without yearly concerns over devastating forest fires, widespread droughts, crop failures, food insecurity, mass heat-related deaths, and other disasters exacerbated by the climate crisis.
These fires should make us angry and I hope that this devastation helps to inspire others to action. Get involved, write to your elected representatives and demand change, talk about climate change with your friends and family, vote for politicians with evidence-based policies that address the climate crisis with the urgency that’s required of a global emergency.
