Sad — By Tommy Purser

I read a magazine article this week about how the extreme heat, exacerbated by global warming, was affecting workers who have to do their work outdoors under extreme heat conditions.

Mostly the article zeroed in on farm workers, who labor in the fields, picking fruits and vegetables, harvesting watermelons, bending their backs and straining their endurance just to make a living — a living that barely escapes the nation’s poverty level, if it escapes it at all.

For years, many Republicans have been in denial about global warming, boo-hooing its very existence, downplaying its effects on our world and in many cases denying there are any effects at all.

Global warming has produced not only unusually high heat but also extreme weather conditions — unprecendented rainfall, ultra powerful storms, increased tornado instances, flooding, droughts …. even a hurricane, believe it or not, in California.

When was the last time you heard of a hurricane hitting California? I can answer that question for you — never.

But back to the farm workers who, according to the article I read, are 65% Latino. Those workers are, in many cases, dying. Dying to bring food to us non-farm workers’ tables. If they don’t die, sometimes they suffer heat induced kidney damage that, eventually, leads to death.

But, alas, as long as many folks get food to eat,  they aren’t worried about the human costs that got that food to their tables.

Sad.