Technofossils

The sun is shrouded as it sets behind the Statue of Liberty in a hazy sky caused by smoke drifting into the Northeast of the U.S. from wildfires in Canada on May 22, 2023, in New York City. 

Gary Hershorn/Getty Images

The BRT guesstimate of relative normalcy regarding the impact of climate change on civilization is approximately three years, after witch, with phase transitions being exponential and not linear as GW increases, the wheels begin to fall off as the runaway 2023 wildfires in Canada is but a harbinger of things to come as man moves further into the 6th great extinction event known as the Anthropocene.

The Trinity test in July 1945 has been proposed as the start of the Anthropocene.

Wildfire smoke swept across the Northeast, Midwest and South — even stretching as far west as New Mexico — on Tuesday and Wednesday, carrying with it dangerous levels of air pollution. High levels of PM2.5, the smallest level of particulate matter that is tiny enough to be absorbed into the bloodstream, caused air quality to plummet in many states, leading schools to cancel outdoor activities and cities to issue health alerts warning residents to close windows and avoid going outside.

This has led some parts of the U.S. to experience some of the worst air quality levels in the world. Briefly on Tuesday, air pollution tracking company IQAir said that New York City’s air quality was the second worst in the world, with an air quality index above 200, which is categorized as “very unhealthy”. A healthy air quality index, by contrast, is between 0 and 50.

Technofossils

The detritius of the Anthropocene ... is everywhere.