Throughout May, more than 140 wildfires have burned across Alberta and British Columbia. On Sunday, the thick, ashy haze billowing from these infernos drifted across the U.S. border, casting a blanket of smoke over Minnesota and Wisconsin, which eventually made its way to Iowa and other parts of the Midwest earlier Tuesday morning.
Counties throughout these Midwestern states have issued air quality alerts and warned residents to stay indoors until the smoke subsides. The problem? In many cases, wildfire smoke follows you inside, seeping through the cracks and crevices of a house or building.
As warmer temperatures and drier conditions fuel more frequent and severe wildfires, an emerging field of research is uncovering the pernicious threat of poor indoor air quality from wildfire smoke. For today’s newsletter, I am parsing this veil of smoke to investigate the ways poor indoor air quality could affect individuals—and how experts are trying to keep indoor air clean.
Polluting From the Outside In: The “dirty secret” of outdoor air pollution is that you are breathing most of it when you’re inside, according to Joseph Allen, the director of Harvard University’s Healthy Buildings Program, where he studies indoor air quality.
“That sounds wild and maybe even incorrect but it’s right,” Allen told me. He broke down the numbers for me to explain how that works: While a typical older home in the U.S. has about a 50 percent infiltration rate of outdoor pollution air seeping in, the catch is that Americans spend around 90 percent of their time indoors. So even though there are less pollutants inside, people can still be exposed to harmful levels of smoke during a wildfire event, which has been associated with a slew of health risks, from cardiovascular issues to asthma flare-ups.
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The infiltration of wildfire smoke indoors exacerbates respiratory and cardiovascular issues, harms vulnerable populations, and only shows the urgency of addressing climate change to protect public health and ecosystems.
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It's crazy to think that we might be breathing in harmful pollutants even when we're inside. I hope more people start paying attention to indoor air quality, especially during wildfire season.
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@ann_nyambura_542 It really has become a public health issue if one isn't safe even in their house. We have to take more care while indoors and outdoors as well to protect ourselves.
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This is worrying, it puts the health of people at a great rist
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The reach of wildfire smoke is terrifying. We need more effective climate action⚠️
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@matin_ahrimankosh We need to effectively end the wildfire pandemic. We should not be having a wildfire season, you know how crazy that is? Like we always expect wildfires year in year out.
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This is so concerning. Wildfire smoke traveling all the way from Canada to the Midwest US and impacting air quality is a scary reminder of the far-reaching effects of climate change.
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A clear illustration of the effects of climate change....the Canadian government ought to take appropriate measures to deal with the issue.
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I think it's time Canada took a decisive action to address wild fires🔥. This wild fires are not only affecting it's population health wise but also contributing to increased amount of CO2 to the atmosphere
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@rukia_ahmed_abdi exactly, the government’s reactance is causing more harm
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This is so concerning. Canada should act fast to curb forest fire that is causing this mess
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This is a great risk to the air quality and a dangerous to the health of the people. Canada authorities must come with a lasting solution to the wildfires and the smoke that results from them.
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@joseph_githinji I agree with you