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.
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