: I was under the impression that most, if not all, of Africa was glassed by
: the Sangheili due to the Flood invasion near the portal to the Ark. I
: don't know about you, but such a massive glassing does put the atmosphere
: in a run for its money, along with perhaps the whole intraplanetary
: economy.

Well in terms of atmospheric pollution, I'm assuming that's not a major issue in the 26th century. Driving through Mombasa we've seen that the sea level is dramatically lower, which to me implies that they reversed the melting of the ice caps at some point. Presumably they have a way to scrub the atmosphere of particulants then.

But we don't really know how much of Africa got glassed. Hood's "glassed half a continent" line would seem to be hyperbole, considering how few ships Half-Jaw had at his disposal. Not to mention that just months afterwards, there's plenty of vegetation around Voi (and he uses the line 'starting to rebuild', implying that it hadn't been the subject of some massive remediation prior to that) and everyone can breathe just fine.

Presumably Mombasa and Voi themselves were destroyed and a small portion of the surrounding area, but nowhere near half of Africa.