Reflecting on the devastating effects of hurricanes from my childhood to the present, I delve into the pressing issue of climate anxiety and the urgent need for collective action to protect our future generations.
Nearly 300 fatalities, millions without power, and billions of dollars worth of damages related to the surge of powerful storms and their aftermaths of the 2024 hurricane season.
As a child of the early 2000s, I remember the effects of 2005’s Hurricane Katrina. The $125 billion damage caused lives to be lost and the survivors are now forever traumatized by the most devastating tropical cyclone, only being tied to 2017’s Hurricane Harvey.
My anxiousness with climate anxiety during this time intensified, being someone who was exposed to the news my entire life and being a 5-year-old, not entirely realizing if Pennsylvania could be hit by something so powerful and devastating.
In more recent years, the tri-state area of Pennsylvania, Delaware, and New Jersey has been getting terrible storms. In 2021, Mullica Hill, New Jersey, was hit by a tornado with a max windspeed of 150 mph and a width of 400 yards, not usual conditions for this area of the United States. Jersey has had its fair share of problems regarding natural disasters, with Hurricane Sandy hitting in late October of 2012, affecting much of the Jersey shore and its surrounding areas. The area is no stranger to larger storm surges as well, and from my eyes, it only seems to get worse each day.
Recently, Professor Janis Chakars brought up the topic of climate anxiety, allowing students to answer several questions, with a majority of students saying they wholeheartedly believe in climate change and that humans are the direct cause of it. One, not just thinking about the present time, wrote, “How our life would look like in the future…” If more people worried about what kind of lives we’re creating for our future generations instead of just worrying about how we live now, the better off we would be.”
When asked about the most recent hurricanes another student asked, “How is this normal? How does one rationalize this? I hope they’re ok. I don’t want to let politics blind me from the fact that people are suffering.”
What worries me is when the next “big one” will occur, the next Katrina, Harvey, etc., and how will our government effectively help fix it. Instead of pushing agendas, tragedies like these should be a time of healing from both parties and a push to come together and work to help heal the Earth.
I feel as though we need to do a better job at shepherding the Earth and helping it heal. There is a quote from Fr. James Martin, SJ, editor at large of the America Magazine, about the Earth: “Sadly, we have a very good job tilling but not such a great job keeping it.”
I believe that humanity can pull away from this seemingly inevitable doom. From whatever political, religious, or moral standpoint we go from, the environment is sacred and we must do a better job at keeping it that way.
