As I write this from my home office in Victoria, the air quality is 10+ or “very high risk” due to smoke from B.C.’s wildfires. I’m avoiding going outside at all due to asthma, and am keeping all windows and doors shut.

A sense of foreboding is settling in as I contemplate what summers will look like in 10, 20, 30 years from now.

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The air quality in Western Canada has been some of the worst in the world this past week. Flights and sporting events have been cancelled in the Okanagan, and residents report near total darkness in the middle of the day as far away as Alberta.

Already this summer, wildfires have killed at least 91 people in Greece, resulted in evacuations above the Arctic circle in Sweden and destroyed more than 1,000 homes in California.

None of this is a coincidence. The science is clear: Heat-trapping greenhouse gases are warming the planet.

More extreme heat, more severe droughts and more lightning strikes increase the frequency and intensity of wildfires.

While there are many factors and no single wildfire can be attributed to climate change, for years climate scientists have predicted hotter, longer wildfire seasons.

The number of wildfires sparked in Canada each year has doubled since 1970, according to Mike Flannigan, a professor in the department of renewable resources at the University of Alberta.

“My colleagues and I attribute this to human-caused climate change,” he told the Narwhal. “I can’t be more clear on that. Human-caused climate change.”

While the media often fail to connect the dots between wildfires and climate change, could there be a more visceral reminder of what we’re doing to our planet than having to stay inside because the air is too dangerous to breathe?

Economic arguments shouldn’t count only when they’re promoting the expansion of fossil fuels. In 2017 alone, fighting B.C. fires cost nearly $560 million, and 65,000 people were forced to evacuate.

A healthy economic future can only exist with a healthy planet. Now — more than ever — is the time to do everything in our power to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions.

This year, the World Meteorological Organization released its 25th annual Statement on the State of the Global Climate, noting that the years 2015, 2016 and 2017 were warmer than any years on record before 2015.

The latest projections indicate the world is heading for a temperature increase of 3.2 C by 2100. Scientists estimate that 275 million people worldwide live in areas that will be flooded at 3 Celsius of global warming.

“[We] still find ourselves in a situation where we are not doing nearly enough to save hundreds of millions of people from a miserable future,” Erik Solheim, the UN environment chief, told the Guardian.

You might not be alive in 2100, but chances are your children or grandchildren will be. What will you tell them you did in 2018, when there was still a chance of averting the worst of the climate catastrophe?

What do I mean when I say everything in our power? So often the argument is made that because we can’t solve the entire global climate crisis, we shouldn’t do anything. This is a race to the bottom mentality. We couldn’t win the Second World War on our own, either, but we still sent troops.

Each and every one of us has a role to play in ensuring our own governments — local, provincial and federal — take action on climate change.

First and foremost, we can show support for governments that are sticking their necks out to lead on climate change. At a time when many governments are backsliding on carbon taxes, this is more important than ever.

Contact your MLA and let them know you support increasing the carbon tax and want them to heed the warnings in the B.C. auditor general’s report on climate change. Express your support for B.C.’s stand against the expansion of the Trans Mountain pipeline while you’re at it.

Perhaps most importantly, don’t lose interest in this topic as soon as the smoke subsides. Stay informed. Talk to friends and family about the wildfire-climate connection and encourage them to stay informed, as well.

In 1987, the world came together to protect the ozone layer. More than 98 per cent of ozone-depleting substances have been phased out, and the hole in the Antarctic ozone is shrinking.

The world has worked together to solve big problems before. And we can do it again.

Emma Gilchrist is editor-in-chief of the Narwhal, which tells stories about Canada’s natural environment.