Fire to the frying pan

When I left Parkersburg, there was a state of emergency declared due to a chemical fire at a warehouse. Plastics, resins, industrial chemicals. Nearby houses evacuated, plane routes diverted. The plume went very high into the sky. A period of rain meant black water raining down on neighbourhoods near the fire. Lucky for us, the plume blew due east while mom's house is north and a bit west of the fire. Below is a screen capture of an online photo. It took several days to put the fire out.

There had been a similar fire 9 years earlier at a warehouse next door, with similar evacuations and pollution. No lessons learned then.

My travel timing was bad in that I returned to Ulster in time for the 11th. The 11th of July is bonfire night. Here's a bonfire in Orangefield, a park where I walk my dog. The lamp post wrapped to protect it from the fire.

The children's fire is lit before the bonfire is lit. It's good to teach children that fire is a form of entertainment. Because anthropocene is a big word and hard to understand.

Here is the bonfire at Ballywalter, a small coastal town. Nearby was an Israeli flag. There are Israeli flags in protestant communities all over Northern Ireland because they love a bit of state-sponsored terrorism aimed at the people whose land they stole.

There are 100s of these fires all over Belfast. The one below is in Belfast (online screen grab of last year's bonfire).

When these things go up in smoke, the tires, mattresses, furniture inside the bonfires also burn, producing noxious cocktails throughout Northern Ireland. As drunk people dance around the bonfires, it's hard not to think of a cult of death. Which is a phrase I was thinking about in America too. We know what fossil fuel emissions do to the planet. Rather than curbing them aggressively, we double down on our carbon-soaked lifestyles. Whether that's jets flying over football stadiums or blowing up oil refineries or setting bonfires alight. It is hard to see how this ends well for humankind.

12 July