In Episode 119, Quinn asks: what’s in wildfire smoke, what does it do to your body, and how can you stay safe?

Our guest is Dr. Mary Prunicki, the director of air pollution and health research at Stanford University under The Sean N. Parker Center for Allergy and Asthma Research. Her lab examines the impact of air pollution and wildfires on health – specifically, immune health.

We’re going to talk about something timely: the wildfires ravaging the western side of the country, and the smoke that’s reaching all the way to the east.

Wildfires are inherent to nature. They’re important. Hell, they’re vital. They’re also far out of hand. Global warming has resulted in drier vegetation and human intervention has suppressed fires instead of allowing them to burn in a controlled way.

On top of that, when these fires burn it’s not just the green stuff – homes, businesses, cars, roads, and more are going up as well. And that complicates the kind of shit getting kicked up as smoke.

Regular old brushfire smoke is bad, but you know what’s worse? Smoke with lead in it. Let’s look at what’s in smoke, how to protect yourself – hint: stay inside – and what we can do to prevent fires like this from happening every year for the rest of our lives.

Have feedback or questions? Tweet us, or send a message to questions@importantnotimportant.com

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Night by Elie Wiesel
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Lions mailbag 2/5/25