I had a brief bout of the flu right around Christmas and even though I recovered after a couple of days, I developed a hacking cough that I still have to this day. I assumed it was just the first stage of lung cancer from years of smoking. Turns out, it's worse than that.
I happened to just catch a special report on the local news about the poisonous air of Bakersfield. The air pollution here for the past three months has been the worst recorded in over a dozen years. Which begs the question.... it used to be worse?
The pollution here contains all the usual suspects you'd find in the air pollution of most major cities. And in a way it's unavoidable since the topography of the San Joaquin Valley traps the air and blocks any winds that could help clear it out. But the air of Bakersfield is even more noxious for the things it has that you won't find anywhere else. And you wouldn't want to.
To start, there are all the pesticides and poisons and defoliants from the ag industry. Not to mention tons and tons of ammonia from all the manure. There's God knows what spewing forth from the oil refineries. Added to the mix are deadly spores carrying Valley Fever and... Bubonic Plague. That's right... BUBONIC PLAGUE. "It's not just for the Middle Ages anymore!"
It's a fucking witch's brew of death.
The weatherman anchoring this special report them went on to cheerfully describe the affect of all this on the people.
"In a nutshell" he said "it slowly dissolves the human body."
They then went on to interview people who were moving out of Bakersfield for their very survival, people suffering such horrendous respiratory difficulties that they were interviewed through Darth Vader-like breathing apparatuses.
Holy moly, we are getting out in the nick of time.
Must. Pack. Faster.
