Canadian co-author Michael Brauer says the findings serve as a "wake-up call" for areas that haven't typically seen repeated or prolonged exposure to wildfire smoke.
I disagree. 82,000 premature deaths are certainly not nothing. You can say “yeah, well those 82,000 made up only 2% of worldwide premature deaths from outdoor air pollution that year,” (using the 2019 estimate you cite) - but so what? What’s gleaned from that part-vs-whole comparison? I guess it’s a good thing there’s so much existing air pollution that our wildfires didn’t drive those worldwide numbers up more? /s (Also look at it per capita: it was one season; we’re a large country, but we’ve a teeny human population)
Could we have killed more people if the affected forests were surrounded by a much denser human population, say such as in China or India? /s
More relevant, I think, is comparing Canada’s contributions to these types of deaths year over year. These numbers should disturb.
And these numbers certainly aren’t nothing to the even larger number of people affected by wildfires, such as those who can’t go outside during wildfires because of health risks. Or their family members. Or those providing them medical or social care.
I agree with you, and put “nothing” in quotes for a reason.
Wildfires are mostly out of our control, but nearly all other forms of air pollution (ok, except volcanoes) are in our control, and we really need to step up our game as a global community.
I guess that’s the point of bringing up the comparison with the whole.
If we were to allocate resources, would it be better to mitigate things outside of our control, or should we use those resources to reduce or stop the things that are in our control?
And to that point, what effect would respirators have on these numbers? I noticed in recent reports, where people in Canada were harmed or died because of wildfire smoke, there was never a mention of wearing respirators, especially by those living in the area of those wildfires.
If governments handed out free P100 masks, would people even wear them? Would there be political fights over the “right” to not wear a mask, and add to the burden of those 80,000+ deaths?
More people are dying from car exhaust, yet there seems to be a massive push against active transportation.
The entire thing is frustrating. The things we can control, we seem to fight over, and end up with millions dying prematurely because of it.
I disagree. 82,000 premature deaths are certainly not nothing. You can say “yeah, well those 82,000 made up only 2% of worldwide premature deaths from outdoor air pollution that year,” (using the 2019 estimate you cite) - but so what? What’s gleaned from that part-vs-whole comparison? I guess it’s a good thing there’s so much existing air pollution that our wildfires didn’t drive those worldwide numbers up more? /s (Also look at it per capita: it was one season; we’re a large country, but we’ve a teeny human population)
Could we have killed more people if the affected forests were surrounded by a much denser human population, say such as in China or India? /s
More relevant, I think, is comparing Canada’s contributions to these types of deaths year over year. These numbers should disturb.
And these numbers certainly aren’t nothing to the even larger number of people affected by wildfires, such as those who can’t go outside during wildfires because of health risks. Or their family members. Or those providing them medical or social care.
I agree with you, and put “nothing” in quotes for a reason.
Wildfires are mostly out of our control, but nearly all other forms of air pollution (ok, except volcanoes) are in our control, and we really need to step up our game as a global community.
I guess that’s the point of bringing up the comparison with the whole.
If we were to allocate resources, would it be better to mitigate things outside of our control, or should we use those resources to reduce or stop the things that are in our control?
And to that point, what effect would respirators have on these numbers? I noticed in recent reports, where people in Canada were harmed or died because of wildfire smoke, there was never a mention of wearing respirators, especially by those living in the area of those wildfires.
If governments handed out free P100 masks, would people even wear them? Would there be political fights over the “right” to not wear a mask, and add to the burden of those 80,000+ deaths?
More people are dying from car exhaust, yet there seems to be a massive push against active transportation.
The entire thing is frustrating. The things we can control, we seem to fight over, and end up with millions dying prematurely because of it.