Since Hurricane Sandy’s attack on the East Coast made national headlines in late October, the controversial topic of climate change has been brought into discussion.  Even though politicians are beginning to stress the dangers of climate change, a few are adamant in refusing to acknowledge its existence.
Gov. Mitt Romney recently voiced his disbelief in the existence of climate change at the Republican National Convention.  “I’m not in this race to slow the rise of the oceans or to heal the planet,” said Romney.  
Multimillionaire and reality TV show host Donald Trump recently took to his Twitter account to publicly announce his views on global warming as well.  “The concept of global warming was created by and for the Chinese in order to make U.S. manufacturing non-competitive,” tweeted Trump.
However, De Anza College environmental science professors Kristin Sullivan and Mark Sullivan beg to differ.  They eco-friendly couple extend their love of environmental sustainability from the classroom to their own home.  
“We’re dedicated to demonstrating that taking measures towards sustainability and the environmental cause is not as drastic as one might think,” said Mark Sullivan.  The Sullivans make use of natural and other reused, sustainably harvested material in their house, right down to the insulation of the house made from rice straw. “Our whole lifestyle is geared toward trying to live more sustainably on the earth, and that includes issues pertaining to climate change,” Mark Sullivan said.
When global warming became a heated topic of discussion in the late 1980s, many people thought it was hoax even though scientists and politicians had begun to take note of its increasingly problematic interference with the environment.
But the issue of global warming and its foray into the public spotlight didn’t take off until the 21st century.
“About 20 years ago, there were some valid questions about whether the Earth was warming, whether the humans were causing it, but that has been locked down, and the scientists no longer question what [global warming] we now know to be scientific fact, ” said Mark Sullivan.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has implemented many policies to reduce carbon pollution by collecting greenhouse gas emissions data.  The EPA proposed a Carbon Pollution Standard for new power plants that would “set national limits on the amount of carbon pollution that power plants can emit,” according to the EPA website.
While these policies have shown serious changes in the environment, it is ultimately up to the citizens of the world to decide whether or not to face the realities of climate change or to ignore it like many of America’s current politicians.
“Living democracy is everything you do from the time you wake up till the time you go to bed, how you act as an individual but also as a member of society,” said Kristin Sullivan.
Her advice to students seeking to join the environmental movement is that committing to sustainability is a “living democracy.”
“Now the questions really remaining are how soon, how fast, how bad is it going to get in the near term and in the long term, and a lot of that has to do with our responses at the policy level.,” Mark Sullivan said.  “As California, we’re moving towards minimizing greenhouse gases, but on a federal level, we’re really not.”
The health of the planet rests with its citizens, and until people start admitting to the existence of global warming and climate change, there will be many more than just a hurricane to live through.