Hipster Heartburn

While shopping at Trader Joes--

“Nice mask!”

“Thanks, I got it from my local fire department back in 2018.”

Long before the pandemic took the world by storm, I was masking up. This was back when N95 only had a couple thousand searches on google, I was number 3,584. Some consider me to be a trendsetter, but I’d rather not be labeled. I’m just a person who values high air quality standards. Viruses, smog, and smoke are not something I want in my body.

Back in 2018, when Camp Fire became a whole new genre, I started tuning into PM 2.5. Over the years, I’ve watched the Air Quality Index hit the mainstream. This has been trending thanks to California’s ever increasing wildfire season. Factoring in climate change, it looks like the state on track for a real Grammy, I mean Whammy. If you ask me, the headline “Largest wildfire in history” is getting overplayed.

It’s time for a change- this stuff is giving me heartburn.

Data for the graph provided by CAL FIRE and was last updated 11/3/2020.