The Air Up There

The flight from Seattle to Los Angeles is rather lengthy. A solid hour and forty minutes makes me realize how long the West Coast really is with enough time for a substantial nap and every article read in my Sept/Oct issue of GOOD. I opted for the aisle seat, indifferent as today's flight is a mere cakewalk compared to the 12.5 hour journey to Shanghai. I was engrossed in GOOD's, "Some Children Left Behind", encouraging parents "of the people" to speak out against the damaging scares the No Child Left Behind Act has cast upon a flailing public educational system. So engrossed was I that only when ominous back aches caused me to take notice of my surroundings. It wasn't until the 1:15 mark of the flight that I finally noticed the thick rouge of the horizon. The fires. The colors, albeit rich and almost beautiful, lost their luster in the almost visible odor of the air. I looked around for an empty window seat and a kind passenger understanding of my need to document the thick haze in the sky. Just as though my thoughts were heard, my row- non-conversational individual travelers- decided to head to the toilet. I quickly attached my camera lens and slid in closer to improve my view.

The thickness, looming above the preoccupied world below, seems stationary in time with no present plan to disperse. The forests, neighborhoods, threatened lives were all sitting in the heavy atmosphere, just beyond the tip of the wing. I thought of the Santa Barbara fire and how close it got to my aunt and uncle's house (they were a block away from being evacuated) and my sister in law's family 8 hours drive North where they were forced to evacuate. I'm so grateful for their safety. I thought of China and all of the people who through the rapid developments to the major cities are forced to breathe air full of asthma causing, allergy inducing particulates. I wondered how different the quality of air really was in Beijing. It's possible I read too many depressing articles about China's weather modification and disastrous environmental impacts to make this a more positive first entry. Despite the tone, I'm thrilled to be on the first leg of my journey East and look forward to sharing my story at various points along the way.