{"id":16861,"date":"2017-09-04T06:47:53","date_gmt":"2017-09-04T13:47:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mixhart.ca\/blog\/?p=16861"},"modified":"2017-09-07T13:48:42","modified_gmt":"2017-09-07T20:48:42","slug":"kootenay-lake-smoke-and-mirrors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.mixhart.ca\/index.php\/kootenay-lake-smoke-and-mirrors\/","title":{"rendered":"Kootenay Lake: Smoke and Mirrors"},"content":{"rendered":"

Kootenay Lake: Smoke and Mirrors<\/h3>\n

A new forest fire, early in its fury, is reflected in Kootenay Lake, BC, August, 2017<\/h4>\n
\"\"
Kootenay Lake, Mix Hart, 2017<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This has been the summer of seeking asylum from the intense smoke and forest fires that have blanketed the province of BC.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Kootenay Lake, Mix Hart, 2017<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Every day, I wake early and immediately look at the sky to find the morning sun a fuchsia globe, suffocating beneath thick smoke.<\/p>\n

The evening sky is even more alien; as the sun sets, the smokey sky turns orange. It is as though the year is 3017 and we are living on Mars.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Kelowna Evening Orange Sky, Mix Hart, August, \u00a02017<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Each weekend morning, I \u00a0check on the Internet to see if the fires near my city have grown, and then I look at the air quality index for my city and all areas across BC. I select a location with the least smoke (within a day’s driving distance) and then I wake up my family by shouting:<\/p>\n

\n

Wake-up! Pack your bags\u2014we’re going on an adventure!<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

The truth is, we are smoke refugees\u2014escaping to whatever area of the provence is smoke free for the day.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"
Kootenay Lake, Mix Hart, 2017<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The irony of our escapes, is that no matter where we run, a fire breaks out at the new location, practically right before our eyes.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Kootenay Lake, Mix Hart, 2017<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Our escape to the Kootenays was one of my favourite escapes this summer. Peter and I brought our youngest daughter and niece to visit my sister’s family. The weekend was full of adventure:\u00a0hiking, swimming holes,<\/a>\u00a0boating, and a\u00a0Saint Mountain<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0garage-punk rock concert.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Kootenay Lake, Mix Hart, 2017<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Unfortunately, nowhere in BC is safe from fire and smoke. A fire broke out on the mountain just as we drove down the road towards the boat launch for an evening lake tour.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Kootenay Lake, Mix Hart, 2017<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

To make the evening even more harrowing, the boat lost power in the middle the lake as the sun began to set. I waved down a boat (by standing on the bow of the boat and waving a yellow life jacket). The kind crew offered to tow us to shore when suddenly, Captain Paul managed to get our boat going again.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Kootenay Lake, Mix Hart, 2017<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I Hope you enjoy the photographs of the beautiful Kootenay Lake, in her “smoke and mirrors”glory.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Kootenay Lake, Mix Hart, 2017<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Beautiful pictures capture a deeply disturbing reality<\/strong>; the planet is too hot. Southern BC has not had rain in nearly three months.\u00a0Forests help cool the Earth’s temperature\u2014the very things this planet needs more of, are burning.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"
Kootenay Lake, Mix Hart, 2017<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

British Columbia is burning; every day a new fire starts. Soon, there will be no forests, in this massive province, left to burn. <\/strong>The smoke from the BC\u00a0forest fires is visible from space. Sadly, the smoke is so great, that it is\u00a0releasing \u00a0more\u00a0carbon into the atmosphere and increasing the temperature of Earth.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"
Kootenay Lake, Mix Hart, 2017<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

There are so little wild spaces left on this Earth; to watch the forests burn is horrifying.<\/strong> The homes of BC’s wild life: bears, wolves, coyotes, birds, cougars, lynx, moose, caribou (to name a very few) are being destroyed and our wild creatures have nowhere to run.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Kootenay Lake, Mix Hart, 2017<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Please, pray, dance…do what ever it takes to send a whole lot of rain down on beautiful British Columbia.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"
Kootenay Lake, Mix Hart, 2017<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Once death-defyingly cold, Kootenay Lake water is warm this year.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Kootenay Lake BC, Smoke and Mirrors, Mix Hart, 2017<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Here’s to a rain dance.<\/strong>..<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Kootenay Lake: Smoke and Mirrors A new forest fire, early in its fury, is reflected in Kootenay Lake, BC, August, 2017 This has been the summer of seeking asylum from the intense smoke and forest fires that have blanketed the … Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":16924,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"kt_blocks_editor_width":"","_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2204,1805],"tags":[3548,3556,3157,3557,3555,1981,3553,3559,2741,3554,3558,1220,1974,3359,64,3560,1235],"class_list":["post-16861","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-canada","category-travelandadventure","tag-bcfires","tag-climatechange","tag-explorebc","tag-gloabalwarming","tag-kelowna","tag-bc","tag-bc-fires","tag-bc-is-burning","tag-british-columbia","tag-forest-fire","tag-forest-fires","tag-kootenay-lake","tag-kootenay-lake-boating","tag-mountain-life","tag-nelson-bc","tag-state-of-emergency","tag-summer"],"aioseo_notices":[],"taxonomy_info":{"category":[{"value":2204,"label":"Canada"},{"value":1805,"label":"Travel"}],"post_tag":[{"value":3548,"label":"#BCfires"},{"value":3556,"label":"#climatechange"},{"value":3157,"label":"#explorebc"},{"value":3557,"label":"#gloabalwarming"},{"value":3555,"label":"#kelowna"},{"value":1981,"label":"BC"},{"value":3553,"label":"BC Fires"},{"value":3559,"label":"BC is burning"},{"value":2741,"label":"British Columbia"},{"value":3554,"label":"forest fire"},{"value":3558,"label":"Forest fires"},{"value":1220,"label":"Kootenay lake"},{"value":1974,"label":"Kootenay Lake Boating"},{"value":3359,"label":"mountain life"},{"value":64,"label":"Nelson BC"},{"value":3560,"label":"state of emergency"},{"value":1235,"label":"summer"}]},"featured_image_src_large":["https:\/\/blog.mixhart.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/P8120830-1024x742.jpg",1024,742,true],"author_info":{"display_name":"mixhart","author_link":"https:\/\/blog.mixhart.ca\/index.php\/author\/mixhart\/"},"comment_info":0,"category_info":[{"term_id":2204,"name":"Canada","slug":"canada","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":2265,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":1805,"count":179,"filter":"raw","cat_ID":2204,"category_count":179,"category_description":"","cat_name":"Canada","category_nicename":"canada","category_parent":1805},{"term_id":1805,"name":"Travel","slug":"travelandadventure","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":1859,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":0,"count":363,"filter":"raw","cat_ID":1805,"category_count":363,"category_description":"","cat_name":"Travel","category_nicename":"travelandadventure","category_parent":0}],"tag_info":[{"term_id":3548,"name":"#BCfires","slug":"bcfires","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":3595,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":2,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":3556,"name":"#climatechange","slug":"climatechange","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":3603,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":1,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":3157,"name":"#explorebc","slug":"explorebc","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":3204,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":21,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":3557,"name":"#gloabalwarming","slug":"gloabalwarming","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":3604,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":1,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":3555,"name":"#kelowna","slug":"kelowna","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":3602,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":3,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":1981,"name":"BC","slug":"bc","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":2036,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":7,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":3553,"name":"BC Fires","slug":"bc-fires","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":3600,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":1,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":3559,"name":"BC is burning","slug":"bc-is-burning","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":3606,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":1,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":2741,"name":"British Columbia","slug":"british-columbia","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":2801,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":8,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":3554,"name":"forest fire","slug":"forest-fire","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":3601,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":1,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":3558,"name":"Forest fires","slug":"forest-fires","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":3605,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":2,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":1220,"name":"Kootenay lake","slug":"kootenay-lake","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":1220,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":3,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":1974,"name":"Kootenay Lake Boating","slug":"kootenay-lake-boating","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":2029,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":2,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":3359,"name":"mountain life","slug":"mountain-life","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":3406,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":4,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":64,"name":"Nelson BC","slug":"nelson-bc","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":1495,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":13,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":3560,"name":"state of emergency","slug":"state-of-emergency","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":3607,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":1,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":1235,"name":"summer","slug":"summer","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":1235,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":5,"filter":"raw"}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.mixhart.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16861","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.mixhart.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.mixhart.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.mixhart.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.mixhart.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16861"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/blog.mixhart.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16861\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16973,"href":"https:\/\/blog.mixhart.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16861\/revisions\/16973"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.mixhart.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16924"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.mixhart.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16861"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.mixhart.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16861"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.mixhart.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16861"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}