2020 falling under a game of Jumanji

Emily Tran, Feature Editor

As a lot of you might have seen, many people in the world are saying that we are in a classic game of Jumanji. In the 1995 film Jumanji starring Robin Williams, Williams’ character portrays an epic adventure of what happens when you unleash the powers of a magical board game. This being said, 2020 really shows us how the movie might have been. This year has had many roller coasters including COVID-19, the Australia fires, deadly hornets, and lastly hurricane season that starts up soon on June 1.

Saturday, January 4, just four days in, is when the year started going downhill. Australia endured a devastating fire and as a result, lost a lot of its wildlife in Australia. Sydney experienced its highest temperature on record. Wildfires are a natural part of the ecosystem in Australia. Many plants and other organisms even depend on regular blazes to germinate, cycle nutrients, and clear decay. That said, the climate is getting hotter due to human activities. And that extra heat makes fires more likely to start.

COVID-19 started off as just a virus that America didn’t pay too much attention to. We’ve lost over 200,000 lives because of the virus but we will always thank our essential workers for getting through all of this.

Moths and hornets are just a new thing being added to the 2020 year. If you haven’t been on social media lately, you might have missed a load of the hornet memes going around. These “killer hornets” originated from Asia and have been spotted in North America. As of a 2013 CNN news article, they have injured up to 1,300 people and have killed 41 in Asia. These hornets love to feast on the heads of honey bees. A colony of honey bees with 30,000 to 50,000 can be killed by 15 to 30 hornets in a matter of hours. This could really impact Earth because honey bees provide honey and pollen for us. This could become a big issue but for now they are mostly staying in Asia.

Lastly, there is Hurricane season. Typically, this is when panic starts to show because everyone is buying water and canned goods. After yet another destructive hurricane season in 2019, top hurricane forecasters from Colorado State University announced on Thursday April 2nd that countries can expect major activity again this year. Meteorologist Phil Klotzbach and other experts from Colorado State University– among the nation’s top seasonal hurricane forecasters– predict 16 named tropical storms will form, eight of which will become hurricanes.

With all of this happening everyone needs to stay safe and listen to what the government has to say. They are trying to keep everyone safe and be ready for whatever will come of the hurricane season and what will happen to COVID-19.