More than 400 wildfires have burned in Canada in the month of June, with more than half of them out of control at one point. Certainly, this is not the first time we have heard about fires. California, Oregon, Washington, Montana, Nevada, Idaho, Wyoming, and Utah have all had their fair share of wildfires. What’s more, when natural disasters happen on a scale of this magnitude, we are all impacted.
In this case, the fires in Canada have impacted air quality in many parts of the United States. Everywhere from Chicago to most recently the eastern United States, have seen poor air quality, which ultimately has impacted millions of people. New York City, in particular, has had some of the worst air quality in the world to contend with, as a result.
Here at the Living Lab, we have long talked about the impact climate change is having on homeowners. The effects of climate change are proving to be apparent as storms, droughts, fires, and floods become stronger and increase with veracity.
We are facing a host of climate challenges here in the United States—and across the globe, for that matter. For instance, different places in the United Kingdom openly report they are missing the mark when it comes to this very topic.
Droughts, hurricanes, wildfires, tornados, natural disasters are on the uptick, and we need to be prepared by living in more resilient homes and communities. There are two key steps we need to take to become more robust.
First, we need to build more resilient communities. This starts with the construction of the home, building, or infrastructure. Today we are seeing many builders focusing on resiliency, with materials and technologies that enable homes to withstand natural disasters.
Second, we need more technologies in disaster response. Nearly every industry is facing a labor shortage. Emergency response professionals are no exception. When disaster strikes, these crews often don’t have the manpower to attend to such a large task. This is where technology can help. Technology can provide data about a disaster response when needed.
Taking this a step further, some technologies can even detect wildfires before they happen in order to prevent it in the first place. Still, the market for this technology is in many cases still in its infancy and the cost is still often high, but the bottomline is if we take the right steps, we can better prepare for more severe weather events, which are undoubtedly coming.
I believe people and technology can do more to address such things as climate change. The younger generations are self-identified activists more likely to join rallies focused on issues such as climate change. They believe in supporting the causes they are passionate about and that extends from climate change and the overall environment. They engage with protestors to think about big issues around the environment, climate change, circular economy, water shortages, destruction of the forest, and the indigenous people. If they can lift their collective voices, we will see greater change and more resilient communities for all. Perhaps the first place to start is right in our own backyards.
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