Rise of the Infanta, 20th of the Dog Days, 526 M.E. (Electra): Tropical Depression Two is now officially Tropical Storm Bertha, but it's still not heading this way so I still don't care.

Having resumed my alternating-day walks yesterday once the weather finally gave me a break, I also resumed my every-other-day sitting today. I hadn't sat since the 2nd of the Dog Days, but once I started it seemed like no time at all had elapsed - I was right back there in that old familiar state, observing the self once again. A per my usual routine, I sat for three 30-minute periods, separated by two five-minute kinhin (walking meditation) breaks.

Meanwhile, forestry experts are pointing out the obvious: Canada’s forest management practices are not to blame for the current wildfires. Climate change is driving conditions that make wildfires more frequent and more intense. There are nearly 900 wildfires burning across Canada and last week Toronto had the worst air quality of any major city in the world. But as the smoke spreads south to the U.S., the Stable Genius is blaming Canada for poor forest management.

Many of the fires now burning are in remote, difficult-to-access part of Canada There are no roads within many miles of the fires, and there’s no practical way that one could ever have enough boots on the ground and enough of a financial commitment to doing management to make any kind of real difference. Further, unmanaged forests are not just a Canadian phenomenon - there are vast stretches of Alaska that have a similar lack of roads. And the U.S. has had its share of wildfires, including major ones that took place last year in California and earlier this year in South Georgia.

It’s natural for forests to go through fire cycles, but the burning and the fires today are much more severe because of increased dryness due to changes in climate.  Warmer conditions lead to drier fuels -  the warmer it is, the faster things dry, and the drier they are, the faster they burn.

As the world warms, winters are no longer cold enough to kill off tree-eating beetles. Their populations explode, leaving millions of acres of dead trees ready to burn. Warmer winters also mean less snowpack, so soil dries out earlier and the fire season runs longer. And climate change has more than doubled the frequency of hotter, drier weather across Canada and increased the frequency of the lightning strikes that spark most fires in northern Alberta and British Columbia.

Both the U.S. and Canada are major contributors to the climate-change problem, although the U.S. emits more greenhouse gases. The U.S. has emitted more carbon than any country in history - around 435 billion tonnes since the 1800s. That's close to a quarter of all the carbon humans have ever put into the air, twelve times Canada's total and 50% more than China's 285 billion tonnes. But the Stable Genius denies that climate change is happening, and his administration has rolled back climate regulations and cut funding for climate-related projects. But good lord, how he whines and points the finger at others when the results of his feckless policies come back and bite Americans in the ass.

If politicians want to clear the wildfire smoke from the sky, the most effective place to start is by cutting the emissions that are driving these fires.