NATURAL disasters are never planned, but proper management of them can be planned with successful results. A wildfire is a fire which burns a natural habitat without prior planning, half of wildfires have unknown etiology (World Health Organization , 2022). Wildfires are becoming a norm in recent years, just like other disasters.
The world is swift to blame it on climate change while the change in our ways of life induced the begining of all the favourable and unfavorable changes we are experiencing as habitants of this planet. It is not enough to accept that we are guilty of the unwarranted and unwanted changes happening to living organisms, we must change our ways and adapt to long term measures to live on earth efficiently.
The recent blankets of smoke which originated from wildfires in Canada reinforces the fact that the world is a global village. The air was greatly polluted in states like New York, New Jersey, Washington DC among others which affected the activities of everyone.
Natural disasters are non- discriminatory, adults had to stay indoors ad well as school children, the homeless felt it more but we all know staying indoors and closing every air inlet into our homes, workplaces, financial, religious and academic institutions is not the solution to the dilemma of air pollution nor will it improve the quality of air outside our homes which is consumed by animals, plant and water bodies. Unfortunately for us, irrespective of our diet, we are the major consumers of these animals, plants and sea foods, it all comes back to us directly and indirectly.
The health of our environment determines alot in our economy as a specie beyond the chunks of advocacy, information dissemination, clamoring for funding and subsidized health coverage. The Health Commissioner for New York, Ashwin Vasan, reiterated the air quality alterrated by the wildfire in Canada is the worst the city has had since the 1960s.
A holistic approach is what is needed to combat the factors affecting one health or any of its segment. Wildfires and other natural disasters destroy our ecosystem but unlike other organisms, in humans, whatever complications affects the global north will reach the global south in no time. We can agree that humans are not going into extinction but what of our lifespan over centuries?
It is evident that countries with better environmental protection policies and air quality control measures have citizens with longer lifespans but extinction is increasing in other species.
The air quality in places like Syracuse was above 400, indicating an unhealthy breathable air which is dangerous (New York Times, 2022). The International Union for conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) red list of threatened species in 2022 indicates marine organisms which are at risk of extinction are at least 1550. It is time for us to live as global citizens and for all stakeholders to implement sustainable one health polices and utilize efficient one world strategies to create a livable planet for all.
REFERENCES
1. World Health Organization, 2022.
2. New York Times, 2022.
3. The International Union for conservation of Nature’s (IUCN), 2022
Azeezat is of Women in Global Health, Washington District of Columbia, United States of America.(Nigeria Chapter).