Last week my kids went to a nature daycamp in Klamath Falls, Oregon, near the California border, where we live. It was meant to be a week of roaming the hills, learning about local species like fence lizards and sagebrush. Instead, they looked at pictures of these species while staying inside with all the windows firmly shut.
Klamath Falls kids have been spending a lot of time inside this summer – days and days indoors, sweating and playing with Lego and watching TV. The outdoor pool has been closed. Our baseball team, the Klamath Falls Gems, cancelled the rest of the season.
This year’s fire season in the west started out early and is on pace to be one of the worst ever. For those in the path of the flames, it is a major emergency, a life-altering, even life-threatening disaster. For a much larger group of westerners, these fires inflict a lesser but chronic cost. We are smoked in.
REPOSTED FROM theguardian.com – READ FULL ARTICLE HERE
Photograph: Tracy Barbutes/Zuma/REX/Shutterstock
