Jersey and New York in recent days, we were left with the now all too familiar story of a city left devastated in its wake: another year, another major hurricane, another massive rebuilding process.

The pictures of Sandy’s destruction are truly incredible in a terrible sense, from the submerged roller coaster and taxis to the New York subway system, which looks like it would be more fitting in Venice.

All this comes even after the government has tried to implement benefits and insurance deductions to cities with high flood-preparation ratings. Despite all the precautions attempting to be carried out, Sandy is still estimated to cause at least $50 billion in damages. That’s an insane amount of money. While it is true rising costs of property along the coasts is one of the reasons the damages are reaching astronomical levels, the intensity and frequency of hurricanes also can’t be ignored.

Since 1970, the average global temperature has steadily been climbing, which is certainly a familiar inconvenient truth to Americans today. While the changes have been gradual, they have been substantial enough to cause concern. The rising temperatures of the earth in turn cause the global temperature of the oceans to increase as well, giving more strength for hurricanes (which depend on warm water) to form. Some estimates have the strength of winds increasing by six percent and precipitation by four percent. This definitely spells trouble for many Americans who could be affected during any given hurricane season.

While global climate change cannot be entirely attributed to humans and their actions, it would be irresponsible to not shoulder a little bit of the blame for the change in our planet. According to the EPA, greenhouse gas emissions have raised by 10.5 percent since 1990.

We aren’t being responsible with the planet we have been blessed with. It’s almost borderline embarrassing at times the neglect that people have for the environment and the earth around them. Go to any urban metropolis on a work day and it’s not hard to see thousands of cars all jammed together burning fossil fuels or to see the blatant abuse of electricity in cities like Las Vegas.

I understand it’s part of the city, but is it really necessary to be so unbelievably bright that it’s able to be seen from space, while simultaneously slowly killing Lake Mead? The misuse of resources and burning of fossil fuels for energy is slowly killing our planet and causing the climate to slowly change to the point of causing major repercussions if our habits don’t change before long.

I don’t want to act like this is a coming Armageddon, but it’s important to wisely use the resources we have and to conserve rather than waste. Hopefully, with the current research of solar and wind energy we will be able to tap into these resources more and more and help give the environment a much needed break.

Needless to say, hurricanes will still form even if we give up all fossil fuels tomorrow, but by being wise and responsible in regards to fossil fuels and flood prevention we can limit the damage global warming is causing and potentially mildly reduce the strength and frequency to the point another storm like Sandy won’t be as damaging.