The year is 2035. After a week of high temperatures, the news reports that temperatures will be above 95 degrees for at least another week with temperatures topping out at 100 degrees. The news is also reporting that the air currents that brought wildfire smoke to the area, will continue as well reducing visibility and contributing to an air quality index above 200 for the next few days (very unhealthy, with the risk of health effects increased for everyone).
The date is August 5th, 2035, and temperatures have been getting out of control the last few years. This week, the temperature has been in the high 90’s to 100 degrees every day with humidity ranging from 70-85%. I was supposed to umpire multiple youth baseball games this week during the day but they had to push the start time’s back so that the temperature would be cooler. Not only is it significantly hot but there is also tons of wildfire smoke and residue being funneled into the area by air currents. This is reducing the visibility and air quality which makes it way more difficult to perform outdoor exercise. The sunsets used to be spectacular; however with the smoke from the wildfires taking over the sky, sunsets are hidden behind the clouds and make every night gloomy. My other job that I work for is a bounce house company which supplies bounce houses and inflatables for schools, camps, block parties, birthday parties, or any event that may be happening. In past years, we always had a good variety of inventory going out every day. Recently, we haven’t rented out any bounce houses for outdoor parties because the material gets way too hot in the sun. When kids go to jump on the inflatable or slide down it, the material which has been baking in the sun and heat is extremely hot and untouchable. This is costing us business and money. On the flip side, our water slides and dunk tanks are getting very popular and going out at higher rates than they have in previous years. Although this may be good for the company, using a lot more water will be the result of the temperature’s influence. Using a lot more water is not good for the environment or sustainability and is contributing to a negative feedback loop. The hotter the temperature gets, the more water we use but at the same time, the hotter it gets, the less water supply we have. While we work during the day in this extreme heat and humidity, there are real dangers of getting severely dehydrated or heat stroke. We sweat profusely from the second we start work at 7:00am all the way until the day is over which may be as late as 10:00pm. Us workers are faced with decisions that make us choose between working as hard as we can or prioritizing our health. Prioritizing our health would mean taking breaks when we feel we need to and getting food or water when we feel we need some. This has led to multiple conflicts between us workers and the boss because work is not getting done as efficiently as it used to.
A big part of my day is usually exercise and walking my dog. I would take my dog for very long walks as she loves going around the neighborhood and exploring. However, she started to not want to go for walks anymore because of the heat. When I would put the leash on her and begin to walk outside, she would stand firmly not budging. Because our house is not big enough for her to get exercise inside, she needs this outdoor exercise to stay in shape and fit. The temperature has made her not want to get any outdoor exercise which will lead to health problems in the future. Additionally, the weather has had similar impacts on me as well. I love outdoor activities such as camping and going for hikes. With the wildfire smoke, views are almost nonexistent when going for hikes. You get to the top of the mountain and can’t see more than 10 feet in front of you because of the thick haze in the way. The temperatures are also scorching hot making dehydration a major factor to watch out for. The super high temperatures are demotivating when I want to go outside for a bike ride or run and often are unsafe conditions to train in. This change in temperature has affected my daily work, my daily exercise, my dogs exercise, and many other things important to me.