a.k.a. V.J.

Smoke from the wildfires returned to CNY today. So far, it isn’t nearly as bad as it was a few weeks ago, but the unmistakable campfire-like smell was in the air in Syracuse late this afternoon. It’s odd how much a natural disaster can evoke childhood memories of toasting marshmallows.

Driving home on 690, I saw the flashing signs warning of poor air quality and advising people to stay indoors. They appear to be the same highway signs that get activated when there is a blizzard, or the ones back during the pandemic that implored everyone to get immunized. That fact made me reflect on how much in recent years we seem to be bouncing from one state of emergency to the next. Either the world out there is getting more dangerous, or we as a culture are quicker to jump straight to DEFCON 2 when trouble is afoot. It’s probably a little of both, I suppose (although in the case of the blizzard warnings, those have definitely grown more breathlessly hyperbolic in my lifetime).

Airnow.gov is classifying our air quality at this writing as “unhealthy” and is forecasting the same for tomorrow. Not great, but I spent the first twenty-odd years of my life in the same house with a chain-smoker, so I’ve probably breathed worse. And if things get too bad, I’m sure those flashing signs on 690 will offer some helpful advice.