Hurricane Helene raged across six states from Sept. 24 – 29, spanned 500 miles and ultimately took 215 lives as of Oct. 4.

After wiping out entire towns across North Carolina, Florida and four other states, the hurricane finally subsided.

Mellisa Hanson, a climate change advocate, was displaced from her Ashville home after a large tree fell on her son’s room, destroying the house, according to Scientific American.

“I work on climate change, and now I’m a climate refugee. I feel an urgent need to speak up and say: this was an unnatural disaster. Climate change caused by burning fossil fuels makes the planet hotter,” Hanson said. 

We should look at stories like these, see what hurricanes are doing to people’s lives, families and loved ones and understand that now is the time to take action on climate change.

“The damage we’ve seen from catastrophic hurricanes in recent years shows we need science more than ever to help us prepare for—and act on—climate change,” The Environmental Defense Fund said.

Hurricane Helene shows that even after the extreme damage and death caused by Hurricane  Katrina, officials still remain oblivious to the active cause of creating these deadly hurricanes: climate change.

“When humid air is flowing upward at a zone of low pressure over warm ocean water, the water is released from the air, creating clouds that grow into a strong storm,” The Center for Science Education said. 

Which are creating bigger and deadlier hurricanes. If we don’t take action to prevent climate change soon, hurricanes will continue to become stronger and produce more destruction, explains NPR.

Even though Hurricane Helene was a mere two weeks ago, due to climate conditions, Hurricane Milton.

Milton, transformed from a category one to a category five hurricane in 24 hours, raged over Tampa, specifically St. Petersburg, Florida, last weekend.

“The most devastating winds capable of structural damage, downing trees and knocking out power will occur near the center of Milton,” according to The Weather Channel.

These winds caused death and destruction in the same cities still recovering from Hurricane Helene.

These terrifying hurricanes are seen as national disasters across the country, but the solution is right in front of our nation’s face: climate control.

Climate change is no longer taught in many schools, so fewer people understand how these hurricanes form. Only 30% of schools teach how climate change is happening due to human miscalculation, explains Climate News 360.

“The ocean is a major heat sink for the planet, absorbing over 90% of the excess heat trapped by greenhouse gases in the Earth’s atmosphere over the past few decades,” said WoodwellClimate.Org.

Fossil fuels in the coal, oil, and gas industries create excess greenhouse gases such as Carbon dioxide, water vapors and methane, which are then absorbed into tropical storms such as hurricanes.

Climate control is a consistent topic throughout each election and many presidents continuously damage the climate to put more money back into their own pockets and those of their investors. 

Several initiatives and presidential campaigns only provide information about environmental projects, such as Trump’s 2025 economic benefits, rather than their environmental costs.

Throughout his presidential run, Donald Trump approved 333 oil drilling permits per month through 2021; companies worldwide and the United States economy are the sole beneficiaries of these projects, which release greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, causing global warming, Citizens.Org said.

If he wins this election, Trump plans to continue on this path; his Project 2025 includes repealing the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), defunding the Environmental Protection Agency, and eliminating the Department of Energy.

Removing the IRA would boost profits for the oil and gas industries, in turn destroying the environment by releasing a swell of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, Democratic House Budget Committee said.

As many politicians ignore the climate crises to fuel the economy, there are simple acts of environmentalism that counteract the destruction to the climate.

The primary way to accomplish this goal is to reduce energy usage using carbon offsets, solar panels, and renewable energy.

The easiest thing you can do is reduce the time spent on energy-reliant products, specifically electronics, the National Park Service said.

Eliminating these greenhouse gases would decrease the humidity absorbed by tropical storms and subsequently reduce the number of hurricanes plaguing the country. 

The climate crisis will be a continuous plague destroying our country through events such as hurricane helene; these hurricanes should be a call to action for climate change.