The aira smelled strange yesterday afternoon, like a campout in the park, but it wasn’t that. It was the residual smoke drifting down from Canadian wildfires. The smell went as far south as Monmouth County, creating a haze that at least blocked the sun on the 100-degree day. But this smoke is not good for us, creating more problems for people with respiratory problems.
The heat, increasing every year as we as we rely more on fossil fuels and less on the renewables that are right here waiting for us. And the renewables we can use in our own homes, such as solar will reduce not only our reliance on fossil fuels but the cost of heating and cooling our homes.
The worsening air pollution also has staggering costs in health care and food production which is making the large investment firms concerned about what they can insure. It’s just possible that those who hold the money will force the politicians to wake up and do something in spite of the bribes known as political contributions from Big Oil.
Prayer for the Day
Swirling around us, the air gives us warning,
Not just for today, but for tomorrow and the future;
Change we do not like now begins to overwhelm us,
While those in power diddle about, doing nothing.
Do not abandon us, O God, to our short-sightedness,
To the feigned ignorance resulting from greed,
In the name of the One who calls us to act,
Even Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen.
Thoughts for the Day
Of all the culture-war flash points that could become political wedge issues, you might think “don’t waste energy” would be toward the bottom of the list, down around “a hot dog is a sandwich” and “puppies are nice,” especially during a supposed energy emergency. And yet here we are. Your electric bills should feel the effects first. (In response to Mandami telling New Yorkers to set AC settings at 78, something Texas governor Greg Abbott did in 2015)
Mark Gongloff, Bloomberg (7/9/2026)
Just to reiterate: instead of speeding the conversion to clean cheap energy, which would save households huge amounts of money, we’re instead shoveling taxpayer cash to the fossil fuel industry, and in the process overheating the earth, which will be the most expensive thing that ever happened, by orders of magnitude.
Bill McKibben, environmentalist
The earth dries up ad withers, the world languishes and withers,
The heavens languish together with the erth.
The earth lies polluted under its inhabitants;
For they have transgressed laws, violated the statutes,
Broken an everlasting covenant.
Isaiah 24: 4-5