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If you woke up this morning and your lungs were burning, you had a hard time breathing, or you looked up in the sky and felt as though you were in an apocalyptic doomsday movie, you were not alone.
Right now, more than 400 wildfires are burning across Canada, which is experiencing its worst wildfire season in history, and that smoke is billowing its way all across the United States.
Today, around 98 million people across 18 states, from New Hampshire all the way to South Carolina, were under air quality alerts — including New York City, which on Wednesday had the worst air quality in the world.
The air is so bad that officials in the affected areas are urging people to stay inside, not partake in any outdoor activity, and start wearing N95 masks again.
These kinds of weather phenomena are happening all around the globe and it’s only becoming more and more common all because of climate change.
And even as we barrel toward a climate catastrophe, many world leaders are still wary of any substantial climate action because of their unrelenting dependence on oil.
And among the world’s top oil suppliers is Canada! As well as the U.S.
And of course there’s Saudi Arabia — their massive oil supply has made them one of the richest nations in the world. The Saudis are so rich off oil they are actually buying up parts of the U.S. — buildings, businesses and now apparently golf, as the PGA Tour just announced their merger with Saudi Arabia’s LIV Golf franchise.
All this despite the fact that their government played a role in funding the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, as well as brutally murdering Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi and hacking up his body with a bone saw.
These are the people who are eating off our addiction to oil.
And as long as we stay addicted, they will not only get richer and gobble up more and more of our industries and our culture, we will suffer the consequences as the planet we live on — and that our children and grandchildren will inherit — becomes even more dangerous to live in.
You’d think it would be a priority to keep breathing.
This is an excerpt from Wednesday’s episode of “The ReidOut.” It has been slightly edited for length and clarity.