The Earth Is Burning — And We Are Still Choosing to Let It

Opinion by James Alix Michel (victoria, seychelles)Monday, August 10, 2026Inter Press Service VICTORIA, Seychelles, August 10 (IPS) - I have spent my life on an island. From the granite hills of Mahé, one can watch the sun rise over an ocean that has fed, protected and defined the Seychellois people for centuries. James Alix MichelThat same ocean is now warmer than at any point in recorded history, and this summer, watching the news from abroad, I have felt something I did not expect to feel again in my lifetime.The horizon no longer glows only with the soft light of dawn. Across Canada, Europe and the Americas, it has glimmered this year with the harsh, reddish hue of wildfire smoke. “The Earth is burning” is no longer a slogan. It is a description of an ordinary Tuesday in Ontario, or a July afternoon in Barcelona.Consider what has actually happened these past months. Canada has watched more than three million hectares of forest burn this year — an area roughly the size of Belgium — prompting the government to declare its highest level of national fire preparedness and to deploy its armed forces alongside thousands of firefighters. In northwestern Ontario, a single blaze, the Thu...