Ross: Climate change showed up at my door wearing a mask
Aug 23, 2018, 6:22 AM
The mail didn't stop while wildfire smoke filled Seattle with a thick, unhealthy haze on August 20, 2018. This mail carrier did use a mask on his route, however. (Matt Pitman, KIRO Radio)
(Matt Pitman, KIRO Radio)
Another new normal…
Here in Seattle we’ve spent four crazy days among a brown Northwest haze, thanks to huge forest fires, which are nowhere near here. Suddenly, we’re on a planet with a strange orange sun that turns blood red as it sets.
RELATED: Welcome to the new smoky Northwest normal
It feels apocalyptic, especially yesterday when the mailman showed up at my front door, delivering the day’s mail – wearing a breathing mask.
I thought the consequences of climate change were supposed to be 100 years away. Now it’s on the evening news.
News anchor: “A new normal for years to come.”
But I don’t like hearing that the air is toxic.
News anchor: “It’s so bad it’s like smoking eight and a half cigarettes.”
What are we supposed to do about it? Wear a patch?
And there’s the problem. You can avoid soil pollution – just don’t play in the dirt. If the water’s polluted, buy it in a bottle. Well, now there are people out west who are ready to start huffing spray cans of Rocky Mountain spring air if they could find some.
And then, I hear that pollution rules are being relaxed. Trump’s affordable clean energy rule would allow states to create their own energy standards while relaxing rules for power plants.
Hmm … It was all fine and good when we thought climate change would be our kids’ problem. But now it’s standing on my porch delivering a disturbingly-clear message.
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Tune in to KIRO Newsradio weekdays at 5am for Dave Ross on Seattle's Morning News.
