Related Link: The Reason Behind The Blood Orange Sun and Air Quality Alert in Beacon

The fires still rage in Canada, which means that the smoke is still in Beacon. For a second day, the Beacon City School District canceled evening events and activities. Children are being encouraged in school to stay indoors. In one elementary school, air ventilation vents went on, which ended up blowing smoke inside from the outside. According to one child, the suggestion was to open the window. And then they all remembered that opening the window would cause the same problem.

Flashbacks of the COVID shutdown are starting, as events are canceling. In New York City, where the orange sky and smoke smothered the city, making it unrecognizable, Broadway and Off Broadway shows canceled, including “Hamilton,” “Camelot” and Shakespeare in the Park. The Writers Strike that is keeping late night shows on repeat as writers fight for more streaming money from big distributors like Netflix canceled their scheduled pickets of film productions, both according to Deadline.

Meanwhile in Beacon, residents could smell the smoke on Wednesday, where the light remained stubbornly orange. Residents in California were probably thinking: “Yes, this is what it looks like. Now you know how we feel.”

The Hudson River Sloop Clearwater, the educational platform and advocacy icon founded by legendary folk singer Pete Seeger and his wife Toshi Seeger was in New York City on Wednesday, where the Air Quality Index (AQI) was 342. In Toronto Canada, it was 160. Sloop Clearwater documented this view and experience on Wednesday, and shared with A Little Beacon Blog. Photo Credits attributed to the Clearwater crew: Chloe Smith on the photo of the boat’s mast, and Guevara-Prip on the picture of the boat in full. The other two photos are screenshots of an AQI measurement tool and EarthCam.

“Clearwater and her crew are currently in New York City, where the air quality has plunged today to the worst of major cities worldwide. Climate change IS the defining issue of our time and due to hundreds of uncontrolled wildfires across Canada, more than 800miles away, we’re all at risk. Our education programs were cancelled today from NYC all the way up to Beacon, restricting access to the river and waterfront parks for our most vulnerable students. It’s time for our leaders to take action on the leading causes of climate change. Thank you @nycparks and @hudsonsailing for helping our crew shelter in place during this dangerous time. Gift goggles, KN95 masks, gloves and other protective gear to the crew from the Captains wishlist at the link in our bio. Stay safe Hudson Valley!”

Chris Sanders provided this side-by-side comparison of the Hudson River at different times:

Buffey Maria also shared a comparative view:

Now What?

The fires are still burning. President Biden sent 600 American firefighters to Canada to help. The Mayor of New York City, Eric Adams, called for all to wake up to the need for climate protection in his news briefing to discuss the unhealthy air quality coming from Canada: “Climate change has accelerated these conditions and we must continue to draw down emissions, improve air quality, and build resiliency.”

Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau also blamed the fires on the climate. However, reports from Canada are indicating that Canada did not have an effective strategy for creating controlled burns of forest which is done to clear flammable tinder like young trees, dry shrubs and grass in a controlled setting. According to the Daily Mail UK: “Parks Canada had only scheduled 23 controlled burns this year. By comparison, there were 150,000 in America in 2019.”

Also reported by the Daily Mail UK: “In 2016, Mark Heathcott, who ran the Parks Canada burns division for 23 years, said Canada was 'way behind American counterparts' when it came to controlled fires. 'A lot of lip service is paid to it but very few agencies do it. People don’t understand the benefit of fire,' he said.”