Thank you for the article on April 28 ("Earth in hot water? Worries over sudden ocean warming spike," roanoke.com) about the recent spike in ocean temperatures. With each bit of warming, we lose more and more coral reefs due to coral bleaching. Storms get more powerful as the water temperature rises. Whether the temperature spike is due to a new surge in atmospheric warming or a combination of human-induced warming and El Nino, it's easy to feel powerless in the face of these shifts.
We all have a responsibility to be good stewards of the Earth, and in some respects, it's simple: turn off the lights, use or buy less, buy used instead of new. However, living a sustainable lifestyle is extremely difficult in many ways. Sustainable products are costly, and living sustainably requires time and skills (biking, mending, etc.), which many of us lack. And really, at the end of the day, does it really matter what we do if big corporations have no responsibility to stop polluting?
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But thankfully, there’s something we can do that’s both free and easy and can lead to real change. You can start by emailing or writing to your elected officials (Rep. Morgan Griffith or Rep. Ben Cline is likely a good starting point) and letting them know that you want climate legislation that’s going to match the scale of the problem. You don’t need expertise to contact them; you just need to care that we have a problem that needs to be addressed.
The same way that if everyone in a state started biking to work it would result in more measurable energy conservation than if one person did it alone, the same is true with citizens lobbying your government. They won't listen if you're the only one doing it. However, the larger the group, the louder our voice. So we need your voice in order to effect change.
Alaina Coppa, Blacksburg
