Leaders from the worlds of politics, entertainment and activism warned on Wednesday that smoke from wildfires blanketing the East Coast today is a sign of the climate crisis.

“It bears repeating how unprepared we are for the climate crisis,” said New York Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. he wrote on Twitter on Wednesday, referring to recent smoke and high temperatures in Puerto Rico. “We need to adapt our food systems, our energy networks, our infrastructure, our health, etc. as quickly as possible to prepare for what is coming and realize what is already here.”

Fellow progressive Bernie Sanders issued a similar note, in writing on Twitter: “Right now, 98 MILLION people on the East Coast are on air quality alert for Canadian wildfires, and last night NYC had the worst air quality in the world.”

“Climate change is making forest fires more frequent and widespread,” he added. “If we don’t do something, it’s our new reality. It’s time to act.”

It wasn’t just in Congress that important figures paid attention to the smoke.

Celebrities also weighed in, with Bravo TV host Andy Cohen write on instagram“It’s like the end of the world walking around in all that smoke,” as he drove through New York.

Scientists also said the bushfire problems are a sign of the climate crisis that is already here and a glimpse of the kinds of conditions that will unfold if changes are not made.

“Today, New York City reached record Air Quality Index (AQI) levels due to smoke from wildfires in Canada,” said the Sierra Club, an organization of defense of the environment. he wrote in a statement Wednesday. “We know what the climate crisis looks like and this crisis is all too familiar in other parts of the world.”

“This is what the sunrise over New York looked like today from the smoke from the wildfires coming from Canada” added Lucky Tran from Columbia University shares a video of an unusually hazy New York sun on Twitter. “Air quality levels are unhealthy, at more than 10 times WHO recommendations. This is the reality of living through the climate crisis.

The entire northeastern United States battles smoke moving south from more than 400 forest fires in Canada that led to mass evacuations in the province of Quebec. Canadian officials have warned it could be the country’s worst wildfire season on record, with more than 6.7 million acres already burned.