Sick days

Welcome to this week’s Reno News & Review.

Are you sick?

I’m sick. A lot of other people I know are sick, too. There’s some nasty stuff going around. I caught this damn lingering cough that just won’t quit. It comes and goes in varying degrees—from minor irritant to full-blown debilitation. I’ve missed a couple of days of work and had some sleepless nights.

Everyone in my home, just about, has caught it as well. It’s a goddamn symphony of hacking around my house. It developed into strep throat for one of my stepdaughters, poor dear.

So, yeah, everyone is sick. And do you know who’s to blame?

The fossil fuel industries.

That’s right. Bear with me for a second here. This is a little bit into crazy conspiracy theory land, but it’s less outlandish than it sounds.

Why is there a lot of nasty stuff going around Reno right now?

Because it’s a lush, green spring after the wettest winter in recent memory.

More water means more plants, greener plants, stronger plants. And more plants? More pollen.

And more pollen? More snot in the noses of all us poor, sorry allergy sufferers. And more snot—and more earwax and more eye boogers? That’s just more breeding ground for bacteria and viruses. And more bacteria and more viruses? More sickness traveling around.

There are people walking around this town just dripping nastiness from their noses out into the streets.

It all comes back to that wet winter.

And that wet winter? That’s climate change, pure and simple. Scientists agree.

And climate change? It’s caused by carbon dioxide emissions. Scientists agree.

And the largest source of carbon dioxide emissions?

Fossil fuels.