Recently, a friend shared a photo on social media celebrating the return of blue skies and air quality readings returning to "good" after weeks of haze.

At first glance, the photo felt uplifting. The sky was clear and cloudless.

But what caught my attention was what sat directly beneath it: a vast expanse of low-density suburbia sliced apart by a ten-lane highway packed with traffic.

In a single frame, it captured a contradiction that has become so normalised. We see the blue sky and conclude the air is clean. We see the “good” rating and assume the danger has passed.