Climate History Interview

I interviewed my mom who currently lives in Bettendorf, Iowa, but has lived all throughout Iowa during her life. She works as an executive assistant for a homebuilder and spends her free time hanging out with our dog. She was born in Iowa City, but lived in Cedar Rapids, Ames, Omaha, and Davenport before she moved to Bettendorf.

One point that my mom talked about how her summers as a child were nowhere near as hot as it is now. She used to play outside all the time and doesn’t remember a time where you didn’t want to go outside because it was “too hot.” Now, she can name several times during the most recent summer where it was been unbearably hot. She also said that she doesn’t remember there being a heat index that was discussed much on the news in the past. She described the winters being a lot colder but also a lot drier and how there hasn’t been as much snow as she remembers as a child. Now there are more huge blizzard events, followed by melting periods before another huge blizzard, but as a child, there was snow on the ground the majority of the winter and snowstorms were regular, yet manageable.

During the interview, my mom didn’t have much to say about the changes in migration for animals since she isn’t super involved in hunting, but it did make me think about earlier migration and its effects. If birds have to migrate earlier, it likely means they have to travel farther as well. Hotter summers could also mean that people who are used to working outside like farmers, construction workers, etc. are at a higher risk for heat stroke or heat-related deaths.

One of the biggest solutions that I would want to see solved is the wildfires that are endangering the people and animals in California. I would like to see our national leaders acknowledge the problem and enact real change to prevent climate change disasters like this in the future. I plan on having conversations with people around me to talk about ideas about how we can come to a solution at a local level.