Yesterday morning, I awoke to a notification on my phone from Apple News: “Caldor Fire flames enter Tahoe Basin as thousands evacuate,” it read. Once I tapped on the alert, I was greeted with images of Lake Tahoe’s quaint mountain towns packed with residents fleeing from the encroaching wildfire. 

Typically, I wouldn’t have had much of a reaction; I’ve long since been desensitized by the ceaseless barrage of stomach-churning headlines plastered across social media. The fear that such a grim story used to invoke within me has long since receded into the numbness of familiarity. 

Yet, as catastrophic events like the Caldor Fire become more common, I cannot help but feel afraid again. 

The threat of climate change has been hanging over humanity’s head like the proverbial sword of Damocles for several decades, and we are already beginning to face the effects. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s Aug. 9 report, some of the most disastrous effects of global warming are now irreversible. 

Even if nations manage to limit increases in global temperatures to the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement’s goal of 1.5 degrees Celsius, the extreme weather patterns we have been experiencing in recent years are here to stay. Scientists from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change are “virtually certain” that sea levels will continue to rise at exponential rates for at least the next few decades while pre-existing greenhouse gases slowly dissipate into the atmosphere. 

Although the world is, quite literally, burning around us, one might expect the many amenities of modern life to be able to provide us with some form of comfort. Yet even the United States of America, the richest country in the world, cannot rid itself of social injustice. 

As time goes by, the prospect of policy-backed social reform continues to worsen in this country. Senator Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) proposed an amendment Aug. 10 to the 2022 National Budget that would limit federal funding for cities that choose to defund their police departments. 

Before the vote, Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ) gave a speech in support of the amendment, declaring it a “gift” that would allow the Senate to “put to bed this scurrilous accusation that somebody in this great esteemed body would want to defund the police.” In a moment bordering on parody, he concluded by asking if a declaration that every senator who “believes in God, country and apple pie” could be added to Tuberville’s amendment. 

These stories represent only a fraction of the horrifying news currently circulating the internet. After just an hour of glancing through the day’s breaking news stories, my mind becomes so saturated with misery and despair that I often feel almost entirely purposeless.

Of course, this overwhelming feeling of numbness is little more than a testament to my privilege; I have spent the majority of my life virtually removed from the direct consequences of these problems. Yet, my distance from them does not make the sense of dread they impart any less devastating. 

Over my time at Chapman, one of the few outlets I’ve found for when these negative emotions become overwhelming  has been writing for the opinions section. There is something incredibly cathartic about compiling my thoughts into a cohesive article and releasing it out to the world. 

The sense of emotional release and solidarity that comes from being heard through my own pieces and hearing others through theirs is tangible. Engaging with this section has become invaluable to me; without this community, enduring the chaos of the last year and a half would have been significantly more challenging.

As your new opinions section editor, I want to ensure that this section remains open to all students on campus as the accepting space for personal expression I have come to know it as. I hope it continues to awaken introspection, empathy and openness in you all, as it has for me. 

While the world attempts to transition back to a sense of normalcy, I anticipate that there will be many complex thoughts and emotions swirling around campus. If inspiration strikes, consider sharing them here. Your voices are always welcome. 

If you have an idea for an opinion you’d like to publish, please contact Caden at cmcqueen@chapman.edu.