Climate change

I’m Getting Really Sick of Experiencing Bad Things I Never Thought I’d Live To See

Smoky air, dusty fields and dying everything

This is what grass looks like in Illinois after weeks of no rain. We haven’t mowed in a month. (Photo by Michelle Teheux)

Last night, my husband and I took our two dogs on a very short walk — it had to be short because the air was not safe to breathe. Smoke from the Canadian wildfires was choking us, and the grass under our feet was brown and crispy.

We don’t live anywhere near Canada, by the way. We are in central Illinois.

“How bad must this be for Canadians?” I mused. And then, for the 400th time this summer, I wondered aloud how the corn and soybeans grown locally could possibly produce a decent crop in this drought.

I’m getting really sick of experiencing bad things I thought I’d never live to see.

The pandemic. A crazy conman elected as president and trying to return to power. A land war in Europe. The worst air quality I have ever experienced in my entire life. The worst drought I’ve ever experienced — I can’t remember a drier spring, and neither can my dad, who is in his 70s.

How much carbon are those forest fires in Canada pumping into the air? It’s certainly making climate change worse. I fear a cycle — more…