Kids need clean air during wildfires

During last year’s brutal wildfire season, our children inhaled toxic smoke. Children, with their growing lungs, are especially vulnerable. Experts say inhaling smoke is comparable to chain smoking cigarettes, or worse.

It increases the risks of: cancer, asthma attacks, lung diseases, and even early death. Toxic smoke can inflame the brain and contribute to mental health challenges like anxiety.

What’s less known is that children aren’t only exposed outdoors, but also indoors where there is inadequate air filtration. Without proper filtration, it seeps indoors into homes, schools, and childcares.

I witnessed this last summer. As a climate planner working on wildfire preparedness, I thought indoor air quality would be safe. I was wrong. On smoky days, we measured the air quality in my daughter’s daycare. It was consistently poor.

We all hope for a less severe wildfire season.

We also know the overall pattern with climate change is more frequent, severe and longer fires.

As the snow melts and we look forward to summer, we need to prepare for wildfire season by investing in clean air spaces where our children can breathe safely.

It was heartbreaking to witness my toddler inhaling toxic air pollutants. Her friend taking the puffer more often. Educators caring for kids while being exposed themselves.

It is a major health risk, a children’s rights issue, and a worker’s rights issue.

On very smoky days, I kept my daughter at home in the clean air space we created using filtration from our heat pump and portable air purifiers. When we had our filters cleaned, we found clumps of ash.

Given that a single air purifier wasn’t enough to reach good air quality levels at the daycare, we applied for and were grateful to receive a grant for additional ones. But air purifiers aren’t enough.

The school where the daycare is located doesn’t have central air conditioning so there’s insufficient filtration. It needs a central air conditioning system, which also provides much-needed relief during extreme heat.

Many people don’t have the option to keep their kids home and can’t afford expensive air conditioning or air purifiers. As explained by the Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment, environmental threats like wildfire smoke disproportionately harm people with the fewest resources to adapt, including racialized communities, First Nations, and people with low incomes.

Air quality is likely even worse in daycares and schools in Indigenous and Northern communities closer to fires.

The good news is that there are clear, doable solutions. The Kinew government’s Universal School Nutrition Program advances children and youth wellbeing. Just the way children need healthy food, they also need clean air to learn and grow.

We need a clean air spaces program across all Manitoba schools and daycares impacted by poor air quality due to wildfires.

The program can assist daycares and schools to create cleaner air through upgrading filters of HVAC systems, installing central air conditioning, and portable HEPA filters. A similar program exists in the U.S., called the Wildfire Smoke Preparedness in Community Buildings Grant Program, which assesses and upgrades public buildings to serve as safe, cleaner air spaces during wildfire smoke events.

We need guidelines for schools, daycares, and camps, to create clean air spaces. Clear indicators whether it’s safe to go outside. And whether it’s safe to go inside.

We need transparent reporting to parents and staff about outdoor and indoor air quality so they can make informed choices.

A major opportunity for the many schools across Manitoba without air conditioning is geothermal, including 19 schools in Winnipeg School Division. Switching to geothermal clean energy reduces the gas emissions fuelling the wildfire crisis, while providing air conditioning and filtration. Now is the time to make these investments, with incentives from Efficiency Manitoba, and both provincial and federal governments that support geothermal.

This is about love for the earth and love for our kids. Our vision is that on smoky days, my daughter and children across Manitoba can thrive in clean air spaces. This summer and beyond.

We shouldn’t have to advocate for something as basic as kids being able to breathe safely. In a rapidly warming world, this is how we can practise loving our kids.

Brigette DePape is a member of For Our Kids Winnipeg, a group of climate-concerned parents.