It’s 3 a.m. and you wake up in your own home. You feel the cold freezing your bones as your body shivers with pain. You have no power, no water, and the realization that there will be no help hits you like a bus. This is what the people of Texas went through on January 20^th.

This winter,  Texas has been experiencing below zero temperatures that are unusual for the state because of climate change. Houses and apartments are not built for this kind of weather, so the people have been left freezing. On top of that, many residents have been without power and water for weeks now. This freezing weather has caused many peoples pipes to freeze over causing them to build up which makes them burst. Burst pipes are not only a flooding hazard but also a fire hazard and a building collapse hazard. Many people  have gone homeless because of the damages caused by these conditions, and its only getting worse.

People are freezing to death in their own homes and the government isn’t helping. Former Texas Mayor Tim Boyd said quote “No one owes you or your family anything” and “Only the strong will survive” during a recent social media rant. He then later resigned but this just shows how little the local government actual cares for it’s people. Some Texas politicians have also falsely blamed frozen wind turbines and renewable energy as the reason for the power outage. This bold-faced lie serves no other reason than to slander renewable energy and persuade the publics opinion on whether or not it’s a good option. In fact, most of Texas’ power comes from natural gasses as well as coal, neither of which are renewable energy. Another example of corruption is the price of electricity going up at such a time like this.

ERCOT manages 90 percent of the state’s electric load and has been raising the price of people’s electric bills. Many people cannot even work or get to work so they can’t pay a bill that unnecessarily high. And considering many people don’t even have power, demanding that residents pay more is absolutely absurd. The Texas situation shows us that climate change is real and we should be doing something about it. A very terrifying realization, however, is that it’s  most likely too late. We can’t convince the people that are in power and it is taking too long to put new people in power. The only thing we can do now is educate the American population. Start putting the effects of climate change in science classes, start teaching young voters what their rights are. Stop letting people get away with the things they’re doing. As citizens, we have the right to control what happens in all levels of government, and we need to start using it.