Shakedown Social

DoomsdaysCWThe smoke from <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/Canada" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Canada</a>’s <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/wildfires" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#wildfires</a> may be even more <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/toxic" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#toxic</a> than usualA legacy of <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/mining" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#mining</a> means that <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/ToxicMetals" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#ToxicMetals</a> could be carried along plumes of smoke. by Matt Simon, June 5, 2025"More than 200 wildfires are blazing across central and western Canada, half of which are out of control because they’re so hard for crews to access, forcing 27,000 people to evacuate. Even those nowhere near the wildfires are suffering as smoke swirls around Canada and wafts south, creating hazardous air quality all over the midwestern and eastern parts of the United States. The smoke is even reaching Europe."As the climate changes, the far north is drying and warming, which means wildfires are getting bigger and more intense. The area burned in Canada is now the second largest on record for this time of year, trailing behind the brutal wildfire season of 2023. That year, the amount of <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/carbon" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#carbon</a> blazed into the atmosphere was about three times the country’s <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/FossilFuel" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#FossilFuel</a> emissions. And the more carbon that’s emitted from wildfires — in Canada and elsewhere — the faster the <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/PlanetaryWarming" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#PlanetaryWarming</a>, and the worse the fires. " 'There’s obviously the <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/ClimateFeedback" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#ClimateFeedback</a> concern,' said Mike Waddington, an environmental scientist at McMaster University in Ontario who studies Canada’s forests. 'But increasingly we’re also concerned about the smoke.'"That’s because there’s much more to wildfire smoke than charred sticks and leaves, especially where these blazes are burning in Canada. The country’s <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/forests" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#forests</a> have long been <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/mined" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#mined</a>, operations that loaded <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/soils" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#soils</a> and <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/waterways" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#waterways</a> with <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/ToxicMetals" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#ToxicMetals</a> like <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/lead" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#lead</a> and <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/mercury" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#mercury</a>, especially before clean-air standards kicked in 50 years ago. Now everyone downwind of these wildfires may have to contend with that legacy and those pollutants, in addition to all the other nasties inherent in <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/WildfireSmoke" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#WildfireSmoke</a>, which are known to exacerbate respiratory and cardiac problems. " 'You have there the burning of these organic soils resulting in a lot of carbon and a lot of <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/ParticulateMatter" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#ParticulateMatter</a>,' said Waddington. 'Now you have this triple whammy, where you have the metals <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/remobilized" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#remobilized</a> in addition to that.'"What exactly is lurking in the smoke from Canadian wildfires will require further testing by scientists. But an area of particular concern is around the mining city of <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/FlinFlon" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#FlinFlon</a>, in <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/ManitobaCanada" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#ManitobaCanada</a>, which is known to have elevated levels of toxic metals in the landscape, said Colin McCarter, an environmental scientist who studies pollutants at Ontario’s <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/NipissingUniversity" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#NipissingUniversity</a>. Flin Flon’s 5,000 residents have been evacuated as a wildfire approaches, though so far no structures have been destroyed. "But a fire doesn’t need to directly burn mining operations to mobilize toxicants. For example, in <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/Yellowknife" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Yellowknife</a>, in Canada’s <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/NorthwestTerritories" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#NorthwestTerritories</a>, <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/GoldMining" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#GoldMining</a> operations between 1934 and 2004 spread <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/arsenic" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#arsenic</a> as far as 18 miles away, adding to a landscape with an already high concentration of naturally occurring arsenic. In a paper published last year, Waddington and McCarter estimated that between 1972 and 2023, wildfires around Yellowknife fired up to 840,000 pounds of arsenic into the atmosphere. Arsenic is a known carcinogen associated with cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and developmental problems, according to the World Health Organization. (After the 2023 <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/LahainaFire" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#LahainaFire</a> in Maui, officials reported elevated levels of arsenic, lead, and other toxic substances in ash samples. California officials also found lots of lead in smoke from 2018’s <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/CampFire" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#CampFire</a>.)"Source: <a href="https://grist.org/climate/canada-wildfire-smoke-toxic-arsenic/?utm_source=firefox-newtab-en-us" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank">https://grist.org/climate/canada-wildfire-smoke-toxic-arsenic/?utm_source=firefox-newtab-en-us</a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/WaterIsLife" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#WaterIsLife</a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/SoilIsLife" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#SoilIsLife</a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/AirIsLife" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#AirIsLife</a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/Mining" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Mining</a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/ToxicLegacy" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#ToxicLegacy</a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/FirstNations" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#FirstNations</a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/Canada" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Canada</a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/Pollution" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Pollution</a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/Worldwide" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Worldwide</a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/AQI" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#AQI</a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/ClimateChange" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#ClimateChange</a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/ClimateCrisis" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#ClimateCrisis</a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/ClimateCatastrophe" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#ClimateCatastrophe</a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/AirQualityIndex" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#AirQualityIndex</a>

Auscandoc<a href="https://med-mastodon.com/tags/PlanetaryWarming" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#PlanetaryWarming</a> will result in an income reduction of 19% globally by mid-century, compared to a global economy without climate change, according to research published in Nature on Wednesday. The paper uses data from more than 1,600 regions worldwide over the past 40 years to assess future impacts of a warmer planet on <a href="https://med-mastodon.com/tags/EconomicGrowth" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#EconomicGrowth</a>.” (2/2)

NonilexThe turnout in NY surprised organizers, & followed a weekend of <a href="https://masto.ai/tags/climate" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#climate</a> <a href="https://masto.ai/tags/protests" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#protests</a> <a href="https://masto.ai/tags/demonstrations" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#demonstrations</a> in <a href="https://masto.ai/tags/Germany" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Germany</a>, <a href="https://masto.ai/tags/England" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#England</a>, <a href="https://masto.ai/tags/Senegal" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Senegal</a>, <a href="https://masto.ai/tags/SouthKorea" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#SouthKorea</a>, <a href="https://masto.ai/tags/India" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#India</a> & elsewhere. They are the largest such protests since before the Covid-19 pandemic. And they come on the heels of the hottest summer on record, exacerbated by <a href="https://masto.ai/tags/PlanetaryWarming" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#PlanetaryWarming</a>, & amid record <a href="https://masto.ai/tags/profits" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#profits</a> for <a href="https://masto.ai/tags/oil" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#oil</a> & <a href="https://masto.ai/tags/gas" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#gas</a> <a href="https://masto.ai/tags/companies" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#companies</a>.

Auscandoc“another study examining <a href="https://med-mastodon.com/tags/ClimateChangeAnxiety" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#ClimateChangeAnxiety</a> in young adults found that countries with stronger climate action had lower rates of related anxiety. This suggests that political failures may exacerbate young Canadians’ malaise—but positive measures could cure it. Climate action doesn’t just stave off the worse outcomes of <a href="https://med-mastodon.com/tags/PlanetaryWarming" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#PlanetaryWarming</a>. It can be a mechanism by which we safeguard the mental and emotional well-being of those who will one day lead this country”

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