I think that here in Chicagoland, we feel like we’re protected from the worst effects of climate change. Though Lake Michigan sometimes feels like an ocean, it isn’t one and we’re not as vulnerable to sea level rise as cities like Miami and New York.

The smoke from the Canadian wildfires has been a wake-up call. It’s got me thinking about borders and how they’re man-made. We can draw lines on the land and even divide up the air space, but the air itself is not aware of these.