Whether you were at the lake or inside with the blinds shut, you must have noticed the insane heat this summer. It is a lot more serious than people realize.  

Did you know that we have broken nearly 1,000 heat records in the past few months alone? These heat waves are happening increasingly often, and the results are only going to get worse.  

Recent statistics show that the 51,606 fires that have happened since January have burned a total of 6,815,741 acres (about the area of Massachusetts). The effects of these fires are more than just losing millions of acres. The safe air levels range from 0-100 AQI and Seattle’s average for 2022 is 120 AQI (AQI stands for Air Quality Index, so this is saying that the quality of our air is getting worse and worse).  

We asked around the school to see if anyone else had noticed or been affected by the smoke. “Yes, people with asthma, like myself, have a hard time breathing, the smoke makes it difficult to get a deep breath,” said AJ Grienauer. 

This summer, the average temperature for each month was 20° over the regular temperature. With all these signs, it would be ignorant to not consider global warming as a factor. “A lot of the climate issues are unavoidable due to nature. However, most of our problems have been amplified by humans,” said Robyn Pontrelli. 

 There are a few questions that still need to be answered. For instance, if these problems are getting progressively worse, why aren’t we doing anything about it? Why are we just burying our heads in the sand and acting like there is nothing we can do about it?  

“It is possible to reverse the effects of global warming; however, it is unlikely due to the fact it is a lot of change, too much for everyone to switch to a green lifestyle,” stated Ethan Allen. It seems like humanity is faced with the ultimate ultimatum: we can either stand together and commit to a greener lifestyle or sit back and watch as we are slowly surrounded by fire.