COTW: When Smoke Gets In Your Eyes

This chart shows an effect of the numerous wildfires burning in the west. Carbon dioxide level and particulates are increasing, setting up a horrendous feedback mechanism for global heating.  In California alone, the Department of Interior estimates that wildfires have released roughly 68 million tons of CO₂ or about 15% of all emissions by the state, the fifth largest economy in the world. Although the exact quantities are difficult to calculate, scientists estimate that globally, wildfires emitted about 8 billion tons of CO2 per year for the past 20 years. In 2017, total global CO2 emissions reached 32.5 billion tons, according to the International Energy Agency.
Besides the obvious consequences of wildfires becoming larger and more frequent, scientists in Idaho have found based on five years of data that dairy cows produce less milk and are more sick when exposed to high levels of wildfire smoke. Preliminary results show higher incidence of disease—especially mastitis, an udder infection—and increased risk of mortality among calves when wildfires elevated the level of fine particulate matter, or PM 2.5, in the air. Researchers also found changes in immune cells and signs of inflammation. Milk production dipped by three pouns of milk per cow, per day, which is a huge amount considering Idaho and California produce 40% of the nation's milk supply.