Canada wildfires: blazes intensifying due to climate crisis, says Kamala Harris; Trudeau accuses opposition of inaction – as it happened

• In a tweet on Thursday, US vice-president Kamala Harris said that the Canadian wildfires and subsequent smoke haze shrouding many east coast states “are intensifying because of the climate crisis”. She added that the Biden-Harris administration was working closely alongside Canadian officials in response to the crisis.

• The US experienced its worst toxic air pollution from wildfire smoke in its recent recorded history on Wednesday, researchers have found, with people in New York exposed to levels of pollution more than five times above the national air quality standard. The rapid analysis of the extreme event, shared with the Guardian, found that smoke billowing south from forest fires in Canada caused Americans to suffer the worst day of average exposure to such pollution since a dataset on smoky conditions started in 2006.

• Justin Trudeau, the Canadian prime minister, has lashed out against Pierre Poilievre, leader of Canada’s official conservative opposition, accusing him of refusing to put forward concrete plans to fight climate crisis. Speaking in parliament and gradually raising his voice, Trudeau said: “For the leader of the opposition to consider that the forest fires that are taking people from their communities and destroying their homes are a mere distraction … is shameful.”

• US president Joe Biden has spoken Trudeau and offered to deploy all available federal firefighting assets. In a statement released on Wednesday, the White House announced that the Biden administration has offered additional support to respond to the wildfires currently burning across Canada.

• Toxic smoke from Canadian wildfires could linger over vast swathes of the US for days, officials warned, as millions of Americans remained under air pollution warnings. Across the eastern US residents were again urged to stay inside and limit or avoid outdoor activities on Thursday, as schools in some cities closed, sporting events were canceled and air travel was disrupted.

• Protesters are set to descend upon the White House on Thursday amid growing anger among climate activists at Joe Biden for allowing a controversial gas pipeline in Appalachia to be fast-tracked. Several hundred protesters are expected to demand Biden “reclaim his climate legacy” by blocking the Mountain Valley pipeline, a 300-mile pipeline that will bring fracked gas from West Virginia to southern Virginia.

• New York governor Kathy Hochul tweeted that from Thursday 1m N95 masks would be made available at state facilities. She also urged people living in the state to remain indoors.

That’s it from me today, Maya Yang, as we close the blog. Thank you for following along.Here is a video of Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau’s fiery address in parliament during which he slammed conservative opposition leader Pierre Poilievre for climate crisis inaction:

Jean Bright, who is originally from the UK but now lives in Ottawa, told the Guardian that she can see blue sky in Arnprior today but adds the scale of the problem is “almost incomprehensible”.

She said:

“Once fires get going, they are incredibly difficult to put out. There aren’t enough fire fighters, pumpers, specialized gear, water bombers, not to mention road access into dense remote bush.

Some small communities, around 2,000 people, have volunteer firefighters. And they are the lucky ones. There are few bush or logging roads, access is severely limited.

The water bombers need a fair stretch of water such as a big lake to suck up water. They have been going full blast. The pilots also need a break as they can’t fly 24/7. “

With Canada currently fighting hundreds of wildfires in multiple provinces, the Guardian took a look at the small village of Lytton in British Columbia which in 2021 broke Canada’s highest temperature ever at 49.6C.

Two days after the temperature skyrocketed to nearly 50C, a wildfire scorched the entire village.

Here is the documentary the Guardian produced on Lytton and how its residents have been relying on a collective spirit to heal:

Massachusetts Democratic senator Elizabeth Warren has also chimed in on the climate change discussion as smoke from Canada’s wildfires continue to spread across the US.

“Extreme weather. Drought. Massive wildfires that destroy our air quality. Evidence of a climate crisis is all around us and Northeasterners can look no further than out their own windows to find it,” Warren tweeted.

“We need to address this crisis head-on—there’s no more time to waste,” she added.

New Yorkers appeared to poke fun at the apocalyptic aesthetic that has engulfed the city in a dense yellow as a result of smoke drifting from Canada’s wildfires.

In one video posted onto Twitter, one resident appeared to carry a speaker blasting the soundtrack of Denis Villeneuve’s 2021 movie Dune, a science fiction epic set in a galactic desert.

Mark Fischer, 58, an IT project manager from Royersford, Pennsylvania has shared with the Guardian the ways that the smokey haze has affected him.

Fischer wrote:

“I’ve been fairly lucky that I’ve been able to stay in the house since yesterday, apart from feeding the birds and taking out the trash. I’ve only been outside for minutes at a time, but it was enough to irritate my eyes this morning. Not my breathing so much, because I kind of held my breath. I didn’t want to risk it.

“I’ve remained inside since yesterday. I’m thankful we still have electricity and gas. This morning the sky had a surreal light salmon color, not as dramatic as the burnt orange from yesterday’s NYC photos. But the sun is breaking through now.”

We’d like to continue hearing from our readers in Canada and the US about the impact of wildfires and smoke. Please feel free to share your story below:

Mary Yang is speaking to protesters in DC who oppose the Mountain Valley pipeline:

Protesters outside the White House said the wildfires are an example of why dirty energy projects must not go ahead.

Demonstrators said they were especially disappointed in Biden, who last week signed into law the Fiscal Responsibility Act to avert a first ever national default in a deal that included fast tracking the controversial pipeline.

“I feel like he stabbed us in the back, said Don Jones, who has lived in Southwest Virginia for 65 years and was sued by the company for refusing to allow construction on his family’s land.

Jones and his wife have been “fighting” against the pipeline since 2015, when they say construction began on their farmland in Giles County, Virginia. While no longer in use, the land has been in his family for seven generations, and Jones said he feels a need to protect it.

Jones, who voted for Biden in 2020, said he no longer trusts the president and wouldn’t vote for him again. “Unless he fixes this.”

“It might be rural country, Appalachia, dirt people, whatever they might think of us,” Jones said. “But there are some pretty smart people. They’ve worked the land, they respect the land, they’re stewards of it.”

Jones said the pipeline, which is set to cross streams and rivers, will harm access to clean water.

“It’s in the ground,“ said Jones, of the pipeline. “But We’re hoping gas will never be able to fill it.”

“We have to fight for the water,” Yvette Jones, his wife of 38 years, added. “If you don’t have water, you don’t have life.”

Pipeline protest begins outside White House

Mary Yang is reporting from a protest in Washington DC about the Mountain Valley pipeline:

A couple hundred protesters gathered in front of the White House Thursday afternoon, most from Southwestern Virginia and West Virginia, who say they were impacted by the route of the Mountain Valley pipeline.

As they gathered, the air quality in Washington was “very unhealthy” according to the site airnow.com, due to smoke from the Canada wildfires.

“Humanity has reached a breaking point,” one speaker said, addressing the group, adding that it was fitting that the earth was currently “on fire.”

Protestors also called on Biden to declare a climate emergency, calling the hazy air “toxic dust.”

cover photo:In this image released by the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry, the Sudbury 17 wildfire burns east of Mississagi Provincial Park near Elliot Lake, Ontario, on Sunday, June 4, 2023 handout photo. Photograph: AP