Q:Be.Do.

A few months back, the History Channel focused one of their fx-driven episodes of Mega Disasters on Volcanic Winter. The concept is terrifying, but seemingly far fetched: I mean, what are the odds of a massive volcano erupting in our lifetime? And if it does, we could always find a way to pull through. Right?

But after driving North on 101 this morning – through the thick haze of wildfire smoke blanketing Northern California – the reality of how tenuous our position is on this planet became painfully clear. One winter of drought, one good thunderstorm, and viola! 1,100 wildfires burning simultaneously in NorCal alone.

I’ve been driving the 101 corridor from San Francisco to Willits for 23 years now, and have a familiarity with the landscape that has evolved with the urban growth that has occurred over the past two decades. One thing that has remained constant has been the backdrop of hills, mountains and ranges. No matter how much urban sprawl changes the immediate view, those ranges in the background are longstanding visual anchors. Old friends on a long drive. Gone. Un-visible.

Mount Tam was barely visible from 101, and that was where the air was clearest. The haze in that photo above is smoke, not fog. Next time I go to Novato I’ll bring a camera so I can offer a comparison for just how visible Mt. Tam should be.

As we neared Santa Rosa, visibility dropped to less than a mile at one point. The smoke affected all of our breathing, made our throats sore, eyes water. Horrific. And all of this “just” from some fires. A super volcano? Whoops.

It raises some questions: is it possible to build a home with a filtration system that could parse out ash? Ok, possible, sure. Economically feasible? Can you build a redundant filtration system for water and waste? Can solar panels pull down enough power through this haze to be effective? Could you build a house specifically designed to get you through this sort of mega-disaster?

More importantly, would you want to?