In early October, Hurricane Milton decimated the Florida coast. The damning impact of this natural disaster only showed that we as a country are extremely unprepared to tackle climate change-related disasters, and this continues to be apparent with every natural disaster that occurs.
In its wake, Hurricane Milton took the lives of 17 individuals and left 2 million citizens without power 48 hours after the initial landfall. The proportion of major hurricanes, Category 3 or above, has doubled since the 1980s, and Milton was an example of this dramatic increase in alarming weather patterns.
As citizens, we must ask ourselves, do we hold policymakers accountable for climate change-related disasters? Or do we stay complicit because they tell us that these disasters are inevitable and that there is nothing they can do through legislation or policy to help decrease the effects of global warming?
These excuses by policymakers trickle down to the individual. When someone with the power to make legislative change seems not to care, it is even easier to lose accountability for yourself.
Many Americans do not care about climate change and its detrimental impacts on this country. This is due to an array of issues. The economy is a number one priority for many Americans when voting and deciding which political party to align themselves with. Some people are single-issue voters, meaning they vote according to the candidates’ stance on a singular chosen issue, regardless of the candidate’s other policies.
When you choose to care more about the economy than climate change, it is easier to believe that climate change measures and the economy directly combat one another. When you are separated from climate change by not living where tropical storms are, it can also be difficult to see how the effects of climate change are detrimental. This creates denial regarding the severity of climate change impacts.
It is easy to brush climate change off as a future issue or think it will only affect coastal areas and not your daily life. When the only evidence of climate change you see is a potentially warmer summer or less cold winters, it may not be meaningful enough to make the necessary changes.
As Americans, we need to wake up to the problems that are soon to affect us and future generations. Climate change is one of these key issues. Presidential candidates need to have stronger and sustainable climate-protective measures. As citizens, we may get wrapped up in the problems facing us right now, but we desperately need to zoom out and take a look at the bigger picture.
The idea that climate change is “not real since there is still cold weather” can dissuade people from seeing the real consequences even more. There will always be excuses about why you did not have time to recycle or research the effects of climate change, but these excuses are meaningless.
The bottom line is that climate change will affect you no matter where you live. For example, climate change is going to do irreversible damage to food production and it is predicted that with a 5-degree increase in temperature, we will have a 50% larger population and 50% less food to feed them. It is also integral that we, as young adults, think about our future and how we want to see the world when we are our parents’ age. We need to consider the lasting impact we want to leave behind.
2014 to 2023 was the hottest recorded decade since thermometer observations began. Since 1901, there has been a 0.17 temperature increase each decade, and since the 1970s, the United States has warmed faster than the global rate. For being one of the most developed countries in the world, the fact that we have barely started to address climate issues is more than concerning, and it is time to take action.
On a more positive note, at Northeastern, we have many green and sustainable initiatives to decrease our university’s carbon footprint. For example, Northeastern has green initiatives regarding the classroom, research and campus.
In the classroom, Northeastern offers a variety of combined majors incorporating sustainability. In the research category, Northeastern created the Coastal Sustainability Network to help facilitate the creation of cleaner ocean communities. Northeastern’s green initiatives also affect the surrounding community, which it has done by lowering its water use by 16% since 2005. Northeastern’s green initiatives are nationally ranked, and the programs here regarding sustainability are innovative compared to other private universities.
As a university, there are always going to be things that can be done better concerning sustainability. While it is important to hold the university accountable consistently, it is also a large step that so much research at Northeastern is focused on climate change and green initiatives.
Research is one of the primary things the university is known for, so it is comforting to know they are utilizing their greatest strength in tackling environmental issues. For example, Northeastern has a “Sustainability and Data Sciences Laboratory,” run by faculty to “develop novel insights in the interdisciplinary sciences of climate extremes and the engineering principles of networked lifelines to inform adaptation and policy.”
It is great that these opportunities are created as a university, but for them to be implemented to their fullest potential, we need to advertise these programs. As a student here, I have never heard about the Sustainability and Data Sciences Laboratory or their work. For a climate initiative to be successful, the public must also contribute to the overall initiative. As Northeastern students, we must work toward educating ourselves on sustainability initiatives. Change does not happen with one person or organization, so we must learn about these initiatives to help shape them to become even more useful and overarching.
Climate change will become less daunting to tackle through collective action and the creation of a shared responsibility toward making the necessary changes for the future of our planet. Storms like Hurricane Milton are unfortunately sure to happen again, and we need to be prepared.
Ava Vitiello is a second-year political science major and columnist for The News. She can be reached at [email protected].
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