Carla Catalan, Jesus Ramirez, And Cristian Zarate
September 15, 2014
It has been three consecutives years that Californians have been experiencing extremely blistering heat. California has recently broken records in extremely high temperatures above 93 degrees. Cities such as Los Angeles, Long Beach and Santa Barbara have recently reached and beaten previous temperature records dating back from the 1880’s to this year. When asked about the view of the heat wave going on in California Lauren Freeman says “It’s very concerning that California is undergoing a drought, therefore a number of legal restrictions must be placed on public water consumption. Everyone is waiting for winter because its hard to sleep at night.” Spanish teacher Mrs. Yokota said “The heat wave is very unfortunate and people are also suffering a lot more than we are.”
The heat wave is affecting the drought making us have to pay more for groceries because many crops are drying making our pockets pay the consequences. California and states around its proximity have been exceeding electrical power consumption levels causing some blackouts due to a majority of individuals using electrical appliances such as air conditioning machines, indoor fans, and commercial fans. Many people having this is consideration are still wasting water for a “good cause” this cause being the ice bucket challenge. When asked the question of their opinion if the ice bucket challenge affecting the drought even more Joshua Hartford said “I don’t have the exact numbers to the amount of water we’ve used on the ice bucket challenge, but it may be the same as washing our cars and watering our lawns”
Factors that are affecting everyone are dehydration people need to remember to drink abundant amounts of water to stay hydrated and only go out when necessary to avoid sun exposure. A major factor of this heat wave that is impacting many californians lives is fires due to the wind currents passing from the East of the United States and making the air around us feel much more hot than it usually is.
Some precautions that can be taken are to always carry a water bottle, wear light clothes to stay fresh and stay indoors as much as possible to avoid ultraviolet rays that may cause skin cancer. Chemistry teacher Ms. Roselman said “ That everyone going outside should proceed with caution, being hydrated by drinking at least six glasses of water.”