Wildfire smoke is the air quality nightmare of our generation, eating away at previous gains made by cracking down on industrial emissions and tailpipe pollution. Constant exposure to smoke is becoming a chronic threat even in places that historically haven’t had many wildfires.
Climate change is priming forests to burn more intensely, which means more harmful substances in soil, fuels, homes, and whatever else burns going up in smoke – and potentially making their way into our lungs. All that smoke is projected to lead to tens of thousands more premature deaths in the coming years, according to a pair of eye-opening research papers publish …