Here in West Covina and other local cities, citizens are experiencing wild weather swings, which have been ongoing since the start of the new year. There have been changes in weather shifting from normal summer heat, to cold, wet and rainy weather with chances of hail and sleet.

The months leading into the new year were supposed to be chilly, and precipitation was expected. However, this year isn’t going according to plan. State water officials in California recorded that January and February were the driest months ever recorded, with almost every area receiving little to no precipitation. 

The start of this year had been drier than previous years that have been recorded, many had hoped that March and April will bring more rain since they are the last months of the wet season in California. County of Los Angeles Public Health officials suspect that we should prepare for lower temperatures and brief, heavy rainfall since this weather has been consistently changing from hot to cold in an instant.

Students have shared their concern about the inconsistent weather and share their annoyance with it. 

“It’s either summer or winter in one week,” said Senior Melissa Aguirre. “It makes no sense.”

Other students also share this concern and find that it interferes with their outfits because they don’t know whether to dress for the heat or cold.

Although many are fed up with this weather, it’s important to recognize that this inconsistency is an effect from climate change. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the U.S. national climate assessments have indicated that about 95% to 100% of climate change is associated with human activities. Varying from gas emissions to something as little as leaving trash on the ground, it is proven that people are to blame for the ongoing problem that is climate change.

“Yes, the weather change is annoying but we have to realize that we are contributing to it since we play a big role in climate change,” said Senior Breanna Escobedo.

Many may be annoyed and overwhelmed with the weather, but responsibility must be taken and realize that humans have been contributing to this problem by littering and polluting the Earth. 

Small steps can be taken to help this issue. For example, we can pick up after ourselves by throwing away our trash into trash cans and recycling our paper and plastic. We can also reduce our water waste. This includes taking shorter showers and avoiding baths when possible. Lastly, we can minimize our food waste by only buying the amount of food we need and not exceeding that amount, cooking smaller portions to reduce leftovers, and recycling compost leftover food scraps. 

Although these are not solutions for this problem to permanently disappear, we can take these small steps to help slow the rate at which climate change is increasing.