Category: Photography

Smoke Without Borders: Cleveland’s Air Quality Alerts and Canada’s Wildfire Crisis

Canadian wildfire smoke causes an afternoon haze on August 4, 2025, obscuring the view of Lake Erie and downtown Cleveland, Ohio. Photograph by John K. Jones
Canadian wildfire smoke causes an afternoon haze on August 4, 2025, obscuring the view of Lake Erie and downtown Cleveland, Ohio. Photograph by John K. Jones.

This morning I awoke—yet again—to an air quality alert in Cleveland. These warnings have become disturbingly routine. Yet there is nothing routine about them. Sometimes the smoke is plainly visible, a dull haze hanging over Lake Erie; other times the sky appears deceptively clear, even as sensors warn of danger. Each alert is not only a public health signal but also a tangible indicator of the broader climate crisis—one that too many still deny.

I. Not a New Story, but a New Scale

Canada has long experienced wildfires, particularly within its vast boreal forests, as part of natural ecological cycles. However, the severity of recent fire seasons represents a dramatic departure from historical norms. In 2023, Canada endured its most destructive wildfire season on record, with more than 18.5 million hectares (over 45 million acres) burned—more than two and a half times the previous record and roughly seven times the long-term annual average.[1]

II. Why Canada Is Burning More Than Ever

1. Climate Change Accelerates the Threat

Canada’s climate is warming at roughly twice the global average (approximately 2°C since 1950 compared to the global average of 1.1°C), and in some northern regions nearly three times faster.[2] This accelerated warming produces hotter, drier vegetation that becomes fuel for wildfires, extends the fire season well beyond historical norms, and increases the frequency of lightning storms that ignite many of these blazes.[3]

2. Boreal Forest Vulnerability and Ecological Shifts

While boreal forests are adapted to periodic fire, the new scale and intensity of burning can overwhelm their capacity for regeneration. Repeated megafires may transform vast areas into grasslands or savannas, disrupting ecosystems and releasing massive stores of carbon into the atmosphere.[4]

3. Human Activity and Legacy Fire-Management Models

Though many fires are sparked by lightning, human activities—campfires, discarded cigarettes, sparks from machinery—remain a significant cause. Decades of fire suppression, along with the decline of Indigenous controlled-burn practices, have also left forests dense and fuel-rich, primed for catastrophic fires when drought and heat arrive.[5]

III. Cleveland Downwind

Wildfire smoke respects no borders. Carried by wind patterns and jet streams, it regularly drifts into the Midwest and Northeast. In Cleveland, this has meant days when the Air Quality Index rises into the “unhealthy for sensitive groups” range or worse. Fine particulate matter (PM₂.₅—particles smaller than 2.5 micrometers) can penetrate deep into the lungs and enter the bloodstream, aggravating heart and lung conditions and increasing health risks for vulnerable populations. Elevated ground-level ozone, worsened by heat, compounds these dangers.[6]

The reality is that Cleveland residents now regularly breathe air compromised by fires burning hundreds or thousands of miles away—a stark reminder of how interconnected our environmental challenges have become.

IV. A Shared Crisis

This is not merely a Canadian issue—or solely a U.S. problem. It is a continental and global crisis, rooted in climate change and demanding coordinated action in emissions reduction, forest management, and public health preparedness.

V. Closing Reflection

Tomorrow’s sunrise over Lake Erie may bring either full clarity or another haze alert. Regardless, the truth remains: our climate is changing faster than our institutions, our habits, or our response. The question is not whether the air tomorrow will be breathable. The question is whether we are prepared to protect it—not only here, but everywhere.

References

  1. “2023 Canadian Wildfires,” Wikipedia, accessed August 8, 2025, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2023_Canadian_wildfires.
  2. “Climate Change in Canada,” Wikipedia, accessed August 8, 2025, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Climate_change_in_Canada.
  3. “Expert Insight: Canada Is Warming Faster than Anywhere Else on Earth,” Western University News, January 2024, https://news.westernu.ca/2024/01/expert-insight-canada-is-warming-faster-than-anywhere-else-on-earth/.
  4. Kasha Patel, “Canada’s Wildfires Are Changing the Landscape for Decades to Come,” Washington Post, July 11, 2025, https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2025/07/11/canada-wildfire-smoke-forests-landscape-change/.
  5. Aryn Baker, “We’ve Entered the Age of the Megafire,” Time, July 2024, https://time.com/7299284/age-of-mega-wildfires-climate-change/.
  6. David Abel, “Wildfire Smoke Is Increasing across New England,” Boston Globe, August 5, 2025, https://www.bostonglobe.com/2025/08/05/metro/wildfire-smoke-increasing-across-new-england/.

On the Advantages and Disadvantages of the Internet Era for the Naturally Curious: The Case of the Lion of Lyon on an Eighteenth Century Jeton

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“In another moment down went Alice after it, never once considering how in the world she was to get out again.”

Long ago a doctor observed that, in his opinion, I most certainly had an attention deficit disorder. He in particular noted that my habit of reading three or four or more books (each a few pages or chapters at a time) simultaneously rather than sequentially (one book in its entirety, one after another), sealed the deal, as it were, for his diagnosis. The reality now is even worse than the kind doctor could have imagined for in any book with end notes or foot notes, which I review most assiduously, I am often immediately diverted by the notes to hunt for additional relevant information. I hunt either in my library for the information or on the internet. I describe that hunt, and the ensuing hunts that usually result from the initial hunt, just as a tumble down a rabbit hole. For, you see, I tumble down rabbit holes in pursuit of knowledge almost daily, never considering how in the world I will get out again, just as blithely as Alice tumbled down her rabbit hole.

It happens easily enough, these tumbles. Consider the macro photograph of the AR jeton of Lyon which I posted about earlier. All things considered, the jeton was one of many items I was photographing that particular day merely to practice my photography skills. I was, in point of fact, attempting to develop my skills in lighting the coins which I was photographing with more precision and subtlety. I was not attempting to undertake any particular study of the individual items themselves. However, when I happened to glance at the photograph of the jeton, which is admittedly poorly lit overall (my skills are still inadequate and developing!), I was struck, as I had previously mentioned, by the presence of the lion’s phallus, which I had never noticed previously when viewing the jeton. This was not, in spite of the subject matter, a prurient observation, so much as an amused observation that the engraver would add such fine detail to the piece which is not readily visible to the naked eye. It was also a catalyst to further research (much like those cursed notes in a book). In short, I stumbled into a rabbit hole.

My curiosity was piqued, first and most naturally, as to whether the lion was generally depicted on the arms of Lyon in the 1750s in so anatomically correct a manner. Though my library does contain a number of heraldic works, those works do not include anything that would address French heraldry so, of course, I immediately went to the internet. Much to my pleasure and surprise, Wikipedia has a very robust and well researched entry on the arms of Lyon.

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“Down, down, down. Would the fall NEVER come to an end! ‘I wonder how many miles I’ve fallen by this time?’ she said aloud. ‘I must be getting somewhere near the centre of the earth.“

Wikipedia was kind enough to instruct me as to when Lyon was granted its arms and the various forms the arms have taken over the years. I learned many things, including how Lyon sided with the Royalists during the French Revolution and, for its efforts, was officially disestablished. I also learned that, after the restoration of the monarchy, the lion in the shield was shown carrying a sword to signify its combativeness against the revolution. A nice touch, to be sure. And, of course, with each change to the shield, and each twist of history, I went down another rabbit hole to learn the story behind the story. Before I knew it, several hours had gone by. I had learned many interesting things, none of which I had planned on learning that day. Indeed, none of which I would have even planned on learning that day if I had sketched the day out. As I recall, I was working on my photography skills that day and the jeton was merely a tool in that exercise.

My lack of discipline regarding the initial task at hand allowed me to be diverted for an extended period of time, but I learned much about topics that I shall likely never have occasion to visit again or otherwise put to productive use. I confess that I cannot much regret the experience, for it was enjoyable and all knowledge has value. Yet, I am convinced that I must develop a more rigorous schedule, so that even in retirement, I accomplish some of the projects that I have a mind to complete. I can only stumble down so many rabbit holes before the day, then the week, then the month, then the year, is lost.