EDITORIAL – It shouldn’t have taken a natural disaster

The government’s preventive measures taken for Hurricane Rita last week seem to have been… The government’s preventive measures taken for Hurricane Rita last week seem to have been effective.

Unfortunately, this organized fashion of reaction – which should be the standard – was only delivered because of a wake-up call that took lives and homes of many. Another factor that aided preparation was weather reports that warned citizens – well in advance – of what could have been the sequel to Hurricane Katrina.

Even in the face of current improvement, we still ought to take precautions for the future. Scientists have tied a red thread between these consecutive natural disasters and global warming. Global warming, or the Greenhouse Effect, is the result of heat absorption of several gases in the atmosphere.

As the years go by and recordings of the hottest day of the year get higher, abrupt weather patterns, along with temperatures of the ocean rising, seem to support the thesis that as more greenhouse gases are released, the earth is gradually thrown off equilibrium. Questions have also been raised about how much people contribute to the overflowing emission of greenhouse gases and its effects.

In the ’70s, the chance of a hurricane striking on such high categorical levels was 25 percent. Today, high category hurricanes strike 34 to 41 percent of the time worldwide. At the very least when considering the hurricanes and the tragic tsunami that hit less than a year ago, the world just isn’t what it used to be, and in this new era, we have a greater responsibility to maintaining our ever-changing environment to the best of our ability.

As college students, we might not be the largest segment of the population purchasing gas-guzzling vehicles, but there are things we do that contribute to the decline of our environment. And it’s the little things, the everyday actions that we can commit ourselves to in the effort to make this world a better place.

A lot of us live in the dorms, and although we don’t receive a light bill at the end of the semester, Mother Nature does. These resources that generate electricity for hot water and air-conditioned dorms need to be conserved. So, turn off lights and conserve water to decrease the costs that nature incurs.

Most importantly, we must challenge elected officials to maintain strict standards for fuel economy and factory emissions. We need them to be proactive, not reactive. So sign a petition and write letters. We don’t need another hurricane to show us that we need to further investigate global warming. Regardless of scientific evidence confirming or denying the greenhouse effect, now, more than ever, we need to take care of our environment.