(October 17, 2012) — “It’s so hot!” is what you heard most students complaining about on campus these past couple months, even more so than about the amount of homework they are given. This summer, our nation experienced its third warmest summer in its history with hundreds of high temperature records tied or broken in the month of June. Based on government records, scientists are inferring that this may turn out to be the hottest year for our nation. For many, heat brings out the worst in people. “I like the warmth and the sunny days we have in California, but it has been unbearable and dry lately,” said senior Lilia Iskandaryan. “What is worse is that it brings out my allergies all the time now.” Perhaps because the 2012-13 school year has started earlier this year, students feel that they have been victimized by the heat longer than in the past. “The heat carried over into autumn,” senior Ricky Fernandez said. “I do not like the heat at all. I didn’t complain about it, though, until the power of my house went out because the AC was powered on for too long.” Although biology teacher Virginia Benzer does not think the high temperature is unusual this year, she believes that global warming is getting worse and is interfering with the natural order of nature. “The temperature change has been changing animals’ migration patterns; we can still see birds that usually would have migrated by now, and we saw blue whales near our coast, which we never get,” Benzer said. For the safety of the environment, Benzer has installed solar panels at her house and has a recycling bin for plastic water bottles in her classroom. She advises all of us to start planting more trees, too. Biology, Marine Science and Environmental GIS teacher Dominique Evans-Bye also believes that climate change is normal and has been happening throughout our history, and she strongly believes that human activities are the cause for this. “Scientists have proven that the main pollution in our atmosphere is caused by burning fossil fuels,” Evans-Bye said. She also added that the rate of the extinction of animals has been increasing and we should definitely do something about it. Evans-Bye argued that our government has been taking too many wrong steps in helping our environment. “Politics involved in global warming is so corrupt. The idea of politicians helping our environment is good, but they are going about it all wrong,” she said. She said that millions of dollars from taxpayers are used in wrong areas that are both expensive and not effective.