Pure Air Amidst All The Smoke: What are you Breathing?
The Air Isn't the Only Thing You're Breathing My son came inside coughing. Not the kind of cough that makes you glance up for a second and move on. The kind that immediately gets your attention. A few moments earlier, he had been exposed to strong chlorine fumes. And for the next several minutes, one thought kept replaying in my mind: What happens when the very thing designed to sustain life becomes contaminated? It's a question most of us never ask. Until breathing becomes difficult. Until smoke fills the sky. Until an air-quality alert appears on your phone. Until your child is standing in front of you trying to catch his breath. Recently, millions of people across North America have experienced that reality firsthand as smoke from massive wildfires in Canada and parts of Minnesota drifted across states, turning blue skies gray and sending air-quality readings soaring. Something invisible suddenly became impossible to ignore. And that's when a deeper thought hit me. W...