The Bookless Club: What are you doing about the quality of air you breathe?

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Air quality is going to become an even bigger health issue as we try to manage the effects of runaway wildfires. We can’t all move to Iceland, so maybe running an air purifier is the next best thing.

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Jane Macdougall is a freelance writer and former National Post columnist who lives in Vancouver. She writes The Bookless Club every Saturday online and in The Vancouver Sun. For more of what Jane’s up to, check out her website, janemacdougall.com

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This week’s question for readers:

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Question: What are you doing about the quality of air you breathe?

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Send your answers by email text, not an attachment, in 100 words or less, along with your full name to Jane at [email protected]. We will print some next week in this space.

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Previous question for readers:

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Question: What are your experiences with extreme weather?

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• When I was 12 years old, I was on a swing in a screened-in porch during a light rain. Without warning, a lightning bolt struck a tree a mere 30 metres from me. Being so close, the deafening thunder arrived at the same time. The tree was split in half. I was terrified and bolted into the house. My only ill effect was electrically charged hairs all over my body.

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Patricia (Pat) Shaw

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• On Aug. 22, Vancouver experienced a record lightning storm. It was memorable, but not as memorable to me as one five years ago. At that time I had a small garden gnome in my flower beds that had a solar panel and a light that would come on at night. We were in bed during a lightning storm and suddenly there was an extremely bright bolt with immediate thunder. It sounded very close. The next morning I went out and saw a pile of dusty concrete where my gnome had been. Someone up there must not have liked my gnome.

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Tom Balabanov

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• On the afternoon of July 6, 1987, I was in St. Vital Public Library in Winnipeg when a severe thunderstorm dumped about 40mm of rain in two and a half hours. The runoff overflowed onto the sidewalk and overwhelmed the library’s roof drains, resulting in water running down some inside walls. The clouds were a surreal jade green-grey colour. The storm generated at least two tornadoes in and near Winnipeg. After the storm subsided, I rode my bicycle back home.

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Derek Wilson

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• I have lived in North Vancouver all my 84 years and have never experienced a storm as violent and long-lasting as the one a few weeks ago. Global News’ meteorologist claimed it was over six hours long. It was frightening. No one should dismiss the power of Mother Nature.

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Caroline Duncan

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• People should be aware that electrical storms can be very dangerous. During this recent storm, a bolt came right through a slit in our window where the air conditioner was attached. Years ago, I was at a resort when a huge bolt came through an open door, hit the stove, and went right out again in a split second. Both events were very frightening.

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Carollyne Haynes

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• I remember being on night shift as a nurse’s aide. A thunderstorm hit at 2:30 a.m. A huge thunder crack simultaneous with flash of lightning. Power went off and the fire alarm panel lit up. The fire department arrived quickly. No fire. Residents were all okay. The astounding thing was, immediately following the storm, many patients who had been non-verbal for years, talked to us when we came to their bedsides: “Oh what a storm.” “So happy to see you.” The next day, they fell back into silence.

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Sheila Humphrey

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• In 1967, I was cruising to Australia when we hit the tail end of a hurricane. Were we worried? Of course not. We were young and adventurous.

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The dancing went on and while the ship rolled from side to side, everyone danced toward whichever side the ship was leaning.