Serving the High Plains
Serving the High Plains
Wow. Another “existential” year. It seems they all are these days.
COVID hit in 2020 and we, as a nation, argued over masks. Then 2021 brought vaccines and deeper divisions after an attempted insurrection. And this year is ending with a “tripledemic” and a stage set for a divided Congress and, probably, a more deeply divided nation.
It must have been a couple of years ago when “existential crisis” became staple mainstream media language. Now it’s almost cliché, even if it is justified in its use — between a changing climate, threats to democracy, war among nuclear powers, disease, famines and way too much more, the survival of humanity is indeed an open question, both now and in the year ahead.
The year 2022 started with a deadly disease still raging but much more under control. COVID’s omicron variant was making the rounds but, thanks to the invention and distribution of COVID vaccines, it wasn’t the killer that preceding variants like Delta had been.
This was also the year in which we were forced to realize that the vaccines weren’t a guarantee of immunity. This was the year in which people got COVID a second time, or even a third time, even if they were fully vaccinated.
Nevertheless, the vaccines still did a world of good because fewer people experienced the worst symptoms. More often than not, vaccinated people who got sick from COVID said it felt more like a bad cold than a life-threatening illness.
Of course, regardless of the virus’ dogged determination to stick with us, 2022 was the year we de-masked in earnest — and are now paying a price for it. It may have felt liberating to remove our face coverings, but it also opened the door for influenza to make a comeback. In 2020 and 2021, the flu all but disappeared, but now it’s come back with a vengeance. And from what I’ve seen, I’d rather get COVID or RSV than the strain of flu making the rounds right now. It’s that bad.
Another ongoing calamity that made itself felt in 2022 is climate change. More and more it’s showing itself as extreme weather, while in the Southwest U.S., it’s most evident in a years-long and deepening drought.
Here in New Mexico, it manifested itself this year in a terrible string of wildfires, including the Hermits Peak-Calf Canyon Fire that raged through most of the spring and summer. It burned nearly 350,000 acres and destroyed more than 900 structures — and, miraculously, only killed two people.
It was the biggest wildfire in New Mexico’s recorded history, but it certainly wasn’t the only one. About two dozen of the largest wildfires charred more than 900,000 acres in 2022 alone. Hotter and dryer conditions have made our state a tinderbox for wildfires and there’s a good chance it’ll be the same, or worse, in 2023.
Of course, we can’t let 2022 go without mentioning the elections. Nationally, an expected Republican wave turned out to be more of a trickle, with Democrats managing to keep the Senate while losing the House by only a slight margin.
In New Mexico, however, the Democratic Party continued its dominance, with across-the-board wins in every statewide election. Even the usually Republican Congressional District 2 fell to a Democrat, making the state’s congressional delegation to Washington D.C. all blue in the coming year.
Tom McDonald is editor of the New Mexico Community News Exchange. Contact him at: