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About Hermiston herald. (Hermiston, Or.) 1994-current | View Entire Issue (April 22, 2020)
FEATURES WEDNESDAY, APRIL 22, 2020 Keeping spirits up HERMISTONHERALD.COM • A11 COLUMN Making climate change understandable, approachable from inferno, levees strain- ing against 100-year fl oods each spring, air so foul it is The brutal coronavi- taking years off our lives. rus pandemic has demon- The systems of agricul- strated that we ture, infrastructure live in an inter- and technology connected world. that undergird civi- When things go lization are at risk. haywire in some And that’s front small place, its page news. repercussions can Yet, this change soon be felt on the has manifested in Trainor other side of the dribs and drabs. globe. For most people, So it is with our climate. it won’t be noticeable — it The dryland wheat won’t be real — until they fi elds of Umatilla County see it in their garden or feel connect to the roiling sea it in their lungs. at the Columbia Bar, Mt. EO Media Group, Bachelor’s snowy slopes imperfect though it may be, connect to the Painted is well organized to attempt Hills, the alpine meadows to stitch the local impacts of the Wallowas connect to to you and your commu- the Amazon rainforest and nity into a wider story of the Australian outback. the region and the world. Climate is a worldwide We have done it before, phenomenon — too large to acclaim. In 2007, our to easily comprehend. Yet, organization won the pres- it is as local as your back- tigious Grantham Prize yard garden, as intimate as for excellence in report- the air you breathe. ing on the environment. For decades, it has been That project included tra- diffi cult for media organi- ditional, local reporting zations to connect global on climate change by our climate implications to newsrooms — from the local lives. We’re just not sandy spit of Long Beach, designed for it. Washington, to the dry pine For plenty of good rea- forests of John Day, Ore- sons, newspapers focus on gon. It offered views on what occurred today and the issue from diverse peo- what you need to know ple in diverse locations. We to get through tomorrow: shared the diverse demands how the Senate voted, how those people made on their the judge ruled, who won water, soil and air. the big game. The daily Placing disparate sto- temperature increasing ries alongside one other in steadily, but at a relatively 2007 helped readers get a unnoticeable amount from sense of climate change day-to-day, rarely met the in a new way. By watch- newsworthiness require- ing people deal with differ- ments to make the front ent issues in different com- page. munities, readers were able That means we’ve been to see the larger context of ill-equipped to cover per- climate at play. haps the biggest story cur- This year we’re embark- rently pulsing through our ing on a similar proj- planet: the consistent creep ect. Climate issues have of a changing climate. changed dramatically in That change has mas- the intervening 13 years, sive implications for our so we’re looking back on daily lives. The world what has changed, we’re around us is increasingly looking at the facts on the hostile to human life — a ground now, and we’re petri dish capable of mov- looking ahead to what is ing a deadly virus across still to come. the world in a few months, It’s not the most oppor- with unnatural forests sit- tune time. COVID-19 has ting a lightning strike away devastated the world econ- By TIM TRAINOR GUEST COLUMNIST Staff photo by Jade McDowell A sign on Highland Avenue in Hermiston proclaims that hope hasn’t been canceled. COLUMN I never expected this to happen to my generation he fi rst 13-year-old parent’s sanctuary. My has died two days dates now have been “Call prior to me writ- of Duty” dates, which is ing this. With no over- indeed very romantic. all health conditions, while I have been to the store being young and three times recently. healthy, COVID- Each time peo- 19 caught up to her ple put more cloth- and she passed away ing to their frag- in Panama, South ile bodies whether America. it be gloves, masks, We haven’t seen or both. Our family anyone outside of has begun to wear Armstrong family for 19 days, gloves and, on some other than going occasions, masks. At to the grocery store once Walmart they herd us like or twice while risking our cattle through one entryway, overall health. I am healthy I suppose to see how many and half way through my go in. When we fi nally 15th year on earth and have make it inside, it is different no health complications. each time; there are either My grandpa, at the age of fewer people than horses 85, just recovering from in the East, or more people cancer, is not as safe as I than the battle of Waterloo. am. They say that there have The fi rst to go, in fact, is been no new cases in China, not humans, but rather toi- which raises the eyebrow. let paper. The stores are out They also say that there had and when it does arrive, in been cases before China its monstrous truck, peo- spoke about it and that the ple swarm it as if it were great country had kept it the Pope. Oddly enough, hidden, which also causes the next thing to leave our speculation — though my stores is beans, which does dad and I agree it was so not help the new toilet paper it wouldn’t get a freak-out depression. from the world, and mainly My parents and steppar- America, which failed. ents still work, all involved They tried to keep it con- in the medical fi eld. My tained from the public and mom and stepdad mostly history books, and now Facetime their patients, for there are rumors of China the virus is not one of the starting a pandemic. Some computers. My father and sources say that people stepmom, who are both from China snuck over here paramedics, go into peo- trying to give it to us, which ple’s houses dressed like is your choice to believe or they just got back from not. Chernobyl. I have been sit- While we’re living with ting in my house all day an economy now with no watching “Clone Wars” and jobs nor toilet paper, we editing stories. The only have politicians in Washing- time I leave my house is to ton who are arguing if the go fi shing or to my other term “Chinese Virus” is rac- T CRYPTOQUIP Editor’s note: We have asked Hermiston-area stu- dents and teachers to submit writing about how COVID-19 has affected their school year. This is the latest submission in that series. To submit an essay, email editor@hermiston herald.com. ist. We were already split in two and now a virus tears through us like an invasion. I never expected some- thing like this to happen in my generation, but it did. I may tell my grandkids or even show them this. In history there have been plagues and epidemics, but never like this. The reason it is so wide-scaled is because of transportation. Our world has never had the advanced technology it does now, and we have changed so much in the past century. Nowa- days we are able to reach another continent in less than a day. The faster we travel, the faster COVID-19 travels. We have found recently that most kinds of masks are doing no good and COVID- 19 can get through it. Coro- navirus also isn’t always on the surface and in the air around us. It has infested our planes, and ships. This fi ght is in the water and in the air. This is a war, not for money nor land, but for mankind. Benjamin Armstrong is a freshman at Hermiston High School. SUPER CROSSWORD: WHOO-HOO omy and the local news ecosystem has been no exception. Many people are out of work, out of the offi ce, out of daily routine. But for a project like this, our current moment has its benefi ts. We can now clearly see the invis- ible threads that connect the world. If airplane traf- fi c can clearly help spread a virus, we now understand that it can also spread pol- lution that affects North- west communities — even if the fl ight was between Dubai and Tokyo. We now see clearly that it costs lives to ignore, downplay and be ill-prepared for a disaster that science tells us is approaching. Despite the constraints in our world and in our newsrooms, we’re moving forward with this import- ant work. In EO Media Group papers, such as this one, you’ll see stories writ- ten by your local reporters about climate issues in your community. And you’ll see reporting from other loca- tions — places you’ve vis- ited, places where you have family, places you haven’t heard of. We have no desire to make this political. And, while our reporting will be backed by science, we’re not going to inundate you with data. We will cover climate change like we would cover every other local issue: We’ll talk to your neighbors and representa- tives about what they are doing about it, we’ll get advice from local experts, and we’ll tease out the impacts on local industry and community life. Our goal is to make climate change understandable and approachable. We want it to be an issue that you can get your head around and do something about. Tim Trainor is the for- mer opinion editor of the East Oregonian and is helping spearhead the cli- mate change series by EO Media Group, the parent company of the Hermiston Herald. SUDOKU DIFFICULTY THIS WEEK EASTERN OREGON EVENTS The place to fi nd everything happening in Eastern Oregon. Post your events. It’s fast and easy! e-Edition For Hermiston Herald information 541-567-6457 • info@hermistonherald.com 333 E. Main St. • HermistonHerald.com Exact digital replica of this print edition is available online, every Wednesday by 5:30 a.m. Check out Hermiston Herald.com for more information.
