On Saturday morning, I met up with a friend to have breakfast at a local diner. We were unsure whether we should sit outside due to the rising Delta variant of Covid or inside because the stinging smoke from the wildfires that ravaged northern and western California had reached the Bay Area.
This small problem is just a tiny part of the many American problems that are currently or soon will be. Combining the increasing number of Covid variants with mounting environmental damage makes it dangerous to breathe in any part of the body.
What should you do? Clean air is the most fundamental public good. Clean air is supposed to be safe, plentiful, and free. Today, few Americans are concerned about microscopic particles that could contain deadly bacteria or carbon.
Yet, because we have taken it as a given and didn't pay enough attention either to public health or the environment in disintegration, the air we breathe has become unsafe. To protect our lungs, we now have to rely on air filters, masks, and other devices. It is not clear how much longer this will continue or when it will end.
We were warned. It has been bizarrely difficult for society to pay attention to the most basic needs. I'm tempted to blame Republicans and capitalism, greed, and the oligarchy. These feel like copouts.
We tend to wait until large problems are catastrophic before we address them. We prefer to ignore them most of the time. We do everything we can to earn a living, provide for our children, and save enough money for retirement. We believe that others will take care the most serious threats.
Or, we may tell ourselves that there is nothing we can do. It is possible to live modestly, conserve energy, use masks, and get fully vaccinated. Some of us might send emails to politicians urging for cleaner air and stronger public health measures. It can be frustrating beyond this.
Hell, I was even in a president's cabinet. I know many members of Congress personally. I own a large megaphone. However, when it comes down to the simultaneous pandemics and environmental crises, I can sometimes feel helpless.
Americans love to talk about revolution. We were a nation that was born out of revolution. We don't talk enough about a revolution in thinking and behavior, realizing that we are not alone in the natural world, but part of it. That we can no longer plunder and exploit the environment for profit. That there is something called "the common good" that requires sacrifice and that those who are more fortunate have a moral obligation to make the most.
I am old enough to recall the days of smog in California, when the air was arid and orange and older people couldn't venture out and children couldn't play outside. I also remember the noxious coal-fired fogs in Britain that covered cities and burned lungs, sometimes killing thousands.
Although I don't recall the last pandemic I can remember the time when polio decimated the country, spreading paralysis and fear. Two of my six year-old friends were put into iron lungs.
We acted as a society, as a people in all of these cases. We removed smog from the air. Britain also cleaned up. We lined up at schools to get our polio shots, and we did so without the howling of anti-vaxxers or governors. We eradicated polio.
We sometimes reach the common good despite our tendency to delay, to get engrossed in our private wants and needs, and to feel overwhelmed by the enormity of our problems. This is important to remember.
My friend and me decided to have breakfast outside. It was not the best decision. Although we were able to reduce our Covid risk, the smoke did more harm than good for our eyes. However, this isn't the only option.
