“Beach season,” per the Chicago Park District, runs from the Friday before Memorial Day through Labor Day. Outside of this period, swimming is not permitted. Historically, this made a lot of sense.
However, despite lifeguards disappearing from our beaches the first Tuesday of September, many people can still be seen swimming, even on red flag days where the water is deemed hazardous.
I witnessed two recent incidents while running along the “Ledge” with a swimmer unable to stay fully afloat and a biker slipping into the lake. Both were OK, but while looking around I realized myself and a few other bystanders were the only ones available to help.
Today, going for a swim in October or just hanging out by the lake is not unwarranted. Since Sept. 1, we have had at least 17 days with temperatures greater than 80 degrees.
The average high temperature in October in a high emissions scenario for Chicago may be 82 degrees by 2060, projected to feel like today’s Tulsa, Oklahoma.
I would be remiss if I did not highlight the disproportionate rates of those who learn and are able to swim. USA Swimming has been running a great program to address some of these disparities.
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These issues are not unique to Chicago. Lifeguards are a reactionary but necessary measure, with many communities having none at all. Extending the lifeguard coverage season will absolutely be an issue of recruitment, particularly of students who have to return to school.
Regardless, the effort is worth making, and prevention is possible and should become the focus of the city, county, state and other Great Lakes communities, in particular.
This means better access to swimming lessons through schools and other community programs, and talking about the issue beyond kids to include adults at risk. And there are resources out there already to take advantage of.
There is a clear distinction between “disaster and extreme weather-related” drowning and recreational and accidental drowning, but both are set to be impacted by climate change.
Climate change is impacting our safety in many ways, with this just one. Learning to swim and having the necessary skills taught, especially to children, of CPR, first aid, and more is always valuable and, in the case of climate change, potentially a life-saving necessity.
Kyle Rosenthal, environmental and sustainability consultant, Sustain With Age, Lincoln Park
Bleak peek into the crystal ball
So here’s to 2025, and this is how it may go …
The world economy will tank, then the American economy will tank, and Elon Musk will be happy; Donald Trump will blame Joe Biden.
North Korea will launch military incursions against South Korea; Trump will blame Biden and will secretly gift Kim Jong Un a golden toilet.
China will attack Taiwan; Trump will blame Biden and secretly gift Xi Jinping a golden sink for washing hands.
Ukraine will be further subsumed, and Russia will eye the Baltics; Trump will blame Biden and secretly gift Vladimir Putin a golden bidet.
The State of Israel and its Israel Defense Forces will remain unfettered by world opinion and further attack Arabs in Gaza, Lebanon, Syria and Yemen, and Iranians in Iran; Trump will blame Biden but quietly crow and gift Benjamin Netanyahu with a golden handshake and an IOU.
NATO will weary of the USA’s, Hungary’s and Turkey’s BS and begin to crumble; Trump will blame Biden and not care a bit.
With Senate confirmations in his pocket, Trump will blame Biden for our lax morals and move to construct a Christo-Fascist judiciary across the land; they will gift us Christo Law. We WILL learn the Ten Commandments.
And so will pass the afternoons and evenings of the first year; and the developed nations will gift the USA with the sobriquet “shithole country.”
And days of Auld Lang Syne will be old long since indeed.
Kevin Kann, Libertyville
School vouchers the solution
Our school teachers deserve to be fairly compensated, like anyone else, but we can’t let the Chicago Teachers Union hold the children hostage with their demands for money the city no longer has. Recall the arrogance of Stacy Davis Gates when she gloated over the victory of the CTU’s man, Brandon Johnson. They want to negotiate from both sides of the table.
Money that could have gone to education went to take care of the migrants Johnson welcomed, but the CTU never objected.
If Johnson doesn’t get his tax hike approved, he will lay off police officers, Streets and Sanitation staff and other city workers, but no teachers.
The answer to this problem lies in school vouchers that could be used for any approved school. Taxpayers fund the public schools, including parents who pay to send their children to parochial schools, but many of these schools have closed due to low enrollments. Vouchers would result in massive enrollments in these schools, and Chicago would no longer be at the mercy of the CTU.
Larry E. Nazimek, Logan Square
Praising JB
JB Pritzker is a great governor. He is the kind of leader we need at the federal level, too. Not only is he getting the financial house of Illinois in order, but he has been innovative in a wide range of policies. He is stalwart in defending the rights of our citizens. I believe he is one of the best politicians in this country. I am just very sorry that we don’t have a president-elect who even comes close to Pritzker.
Jennifer Miller, Chicago