This past summer is tied with last summer as the warmest July in 137 years of modern day record keeping. According to scientists, an increase in global temperature could directly lead to not only droughts, and natural disasters, but also an increased intensity of storms, fires, and earthquakes. Sound familiar?

Hurricane Harvey. Hurricane Irma. Wildfires in California, Washington, Oregon, Montana, Idaho, and Utah. The strongest earthquake of the century in Mexico. One disaster after the other and all in the past three weeks.

The news from the past few weeks seems like something out of an apocalyptic movie about inescapable doom. But it is real.

If you have not heard about the hurricanes, it is time to climb out from the rock you are living under. Hurricane Harvey, a category 4 hurricane, devastated Houston, with catastrophic flooding and winds blowing over 100 mph (don’t worry though, California is helping. A San Diego no-kill pet center has saved 64 pets from Texas).

Then came Hurricane Irma, which ravaged the Caribbean, the Florida Keys, Marco Island, and Naples, and left millions in Florida without power for days.

How can climate change cause hurricanes? Well, warm, moist air and water form hurricanes. Tropical storms occur naturally, but as the global temperature rises, the heat helps make these storms into superstorms.

Last week, a fire hit the hills in Burbank, and it scorched the earth with one of the largest wildfires ever to strike the city of Los Angeles . When the fire started, we were in the middle of a heat wave. It was so hot outside, taking one step outdoors felt as if someone were blowing an extremely hot hair dryer on your entire body. It was dangerous to be outside for any amount of time, and it became exponentially more dangerous when the fire started, filling the air we breathe with smoke and ash.

Are these fires a result of climate change? With the warming of our atmosphere, we are seeing record-breaking heat all over the world, and hot and dry air leads directly to larger and more frequent fires. Although the state of California is no longer in a drought, Los Angeles still is, making it constantly dry and arid. According to scientist Park Williams in The Atlantic, “we think that the Western United States is 1.5 Celsius, or 3 degrees Fahrenheit, hotter than it would be in absence of climate change.”

Another tragedy was the magnitude 8.1 earthquake that shook Mexico and Guatemala, the strongest earthquake felt in Mexico in the past century. Leaving parts of the country in devastation, the earthquake has killed almost 100 people.

According to geoscientist Allen Glazner of the University of North Carolina, “It’s unavoidable that glacial retreat will induce tectonic activity.” Basically, as climate change is melting the glaciers, earthquakes are more likely to happen.

The real question is how can people still be denying climate change when it is so obvious the world is experiencing unprecedented weather catastrophes? Hurricanes. Fires. Earthquakes. What’s next? How many more lives have to be lost, how many more homes need to be destroyed, how many more people have to be put at risk before it is acknowledged that what is happening to our world is unnatural? It is man made, and it is our responsibility to stop it or at least slow down the effects.

Right now, our current government is denying that climate change is man-made or even exists. Our current president has withdrawn from the Paris Agreement, whose main goal is protecting our planet, and the head of the EPA is a known denier of climate change. The government is doing nothing to help our world, so it is our obligation to stand up. First, reach out to those affected by recent environmental disasters. Send money, supplies, and letters. Reach out and show these people that we care.

Then, make it clear that you think climate change exists. Spread the word. Write letters to your congressmen. This shouldn’t be a subject of question. The best place to start with changing the world is knowledge. Educate the people who deny climate change. Prove to them that climate change is real and that it is happening now, but we can take action to slow it down. Research how you can help, and be the change.

The global climate did change before humans affected it, but there is evidence to prove that humans are impacting it unnaturally. Now it’s time for humans to fix the damage they have taken part in creating. It may be impossible to ever go back to the way the world once was, but one day, I believe the world will be a healthy, safe place where everyone can live without the fear of natural disasters like hurricanes, fires, and earthquakes.