Smoke from wildfires in Canada spread badly at Times Square in New York City on June 7th, 2023. | Photo by Eren Abdullahogullari / Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
When it comes to pollution from wildfire smoke, Wednesday, June 7th, 2023, was by far the worst day on record for the average American. A thick haze of smoke swept in from wildfires in Canada, blanketing much of the Northeast with record-shattering levels of harmful particulate pollution.
The Verge was on the phone with Stanford associate professor Marshall Burke when he got the results of his team’s analysis via Slack. “Jesus,” he says — audibly surprised, even though he expected the numbers to be bad. “It’s really remarkable. The number is honestly pretty shocking.”
According to the initial analysis by his team at Stanford’s Environmental Change and Human Outcomes Lab, the average person in the US was exposed to 27.5 micrograms of…
