TRIPLE DIGIT TEMPERATURES & TRIPLE DIGIT DEATHS

The only good heatwave

My hometown of Hanford, California made the New York Times today as it is one of the many agricultural towns in the Central Valley cooked by the current heatwave, which has now taken the lives of over 100 Californians.

The Times reports that coroners are double-stacking bodies in Fresno, where it hit a high of 112 degrees today. Not surprisingly, the casualties were mostly elderly people and/or field workers, both of whose deaths tend not to alarm the masses.

I admit I was more shocked to read that 16,500 cows have croaked as a result of the record heat. I'd make a cheap spoiled milk or overcooked beef joke if the thought of 16,500 dead cows weren't so disturbing.

One would think that this is an obvious reminder of the growing catastrophe that is global warming and a call for tougher environmental standards. But from my perspective, the Central Valley has vociferously opposed greater government regulation of the environment because of the powerful farm and agricultural interests there.

I wonder how many deaths -- human or bovine -- are necessary before the San Joaquin Valley starts shifting toward greener political pastures.

--Junichi