the Voice of
The Communist League of Revolutionary Workers–Internationalist
“The emancipation of the working class will only be achieved by the working class itself.”
— Karl Marx
the Voice of
The Communist League of Revolutionary Workers–Internationalist
“The emancipation of the working class will only be achieved by the working class itself.”
— Karl Marx
Jun 9, 2025
The first month of Canada’s wildfire season saw many more fires start and then spread farther than normal. By June 6, 204 fires in eight provinces had burned more than six million acres, almost the area of Massachusetts or Maryland. Two people were killed and 31,000 people were ordered to evacuate.
Like in 2023, the wind didn’t stop at the border. Smoke spread into and across the U.S., causing “unhealthy” air declarations in five states, and going as far south as Florida and then across the Atlantic to Europe, all the way to Russia. This excessive wildfire smoke undoes decades of progress in cleaning the air through lowering pollution from factories, power plants, and automobiles.
Scientists had predicted this. Climate change from global greenhouse gas emissions has made western and central Canada drier and hotter. This caused severe and extreme drought. With less winter snow on the ground, spring sunshine quickly dried plants and soil, creating vast fields of tinder. Excessive dryness also made it easier for sparks from campfires or industrial machinery to start more wildfires.
Wildfire smoke is unhealthy to breathe. It has tiny particles 30 times narrower than human hair, which can cause asthma, bronchitis, heart attacks, strokes, premature births, and even neurological decline. Americans today are exposed to twice as much of this “fine particulate matter” as decades ago. And twice as much U.S. woodland burns by wildfire now as it did 20 years ago.