Air quality alert!

A good day to chill inside

This is a quick email as I’m driving to work. Speech to text so please excuse any lack of eloquence. Take the air quality alert seriously today. PPM 2.5 pollution is extremely high right now in the Northeast and other parts of the country because of the wildfires in Canada and northerly winds. Visible haze, odorous smoke, and personal respiratory symptoms like congestion, scratchy throat, and a little wheeziness is proof enough for me. Particulate pollution like this increases risk of heart attacks, strokes, breathing problems, and other medical condition exacerbation.

It’s a good day to just stay indoors. Run your house fan if you have a good filter. Avoid exercising outside and other strenuous activities. If you do need to go out, an N95 mask filters 95% of particles greater than 0.3 µm in size, so studies have shown it is actually pretty good for small particulate pollution over short time frames as well.

It may also be a good time to put aside petty bickering about push button identity politics from leaders who would rather not tackle more massive problems like the world burning down, sea levels rising, and the 6th mass extinction occurring in real time. Environmental problems and climate disruption are the most important issues.

So in short - stay inside, limit physical exertion, consider an N95 if you’re out… and hope for prevailing winds and rain to save the day.

Every picture tells a story, don’t it?

Photo taken of the city while driving to work yesterday. It’s worse today.

Philly this morning.

Road crews should have the day off.