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Hurricane season brings a humbling reminder that, despite our technologies, most of nature remains unpredictable.

Disasters happen. We still have no way to eliminate earthquakes, wildfires, hurricanes, floods or droughts. We cope as best we can by fortifying ourselves against danger with building codes and levees, and by setting aside money to clean up afterwards.

The environmental movement, like all political processes, reacts best to disasters. But these are very slow, very gradual disasters in the making.

I'm not in favor of just taking short-term isolated situations and depleting our resources to keep our climate just the way it is today.

The planet's environmental woes tend to be overlooked as we scramble for the latest high-tech gizmos - and conveniently ignore their energy consumption.

It's time we stopped ignoring the environment. Let's not let another election go by without making this a high priority.

We don't think much about climate change and rising sea levels here in the U.S. Beyond a few gardeners, birders and hikers who notice the changes in our own ecosystem, we live on, blissfully unaware of our changing Earth. Our storms - Katrina, Sandy - are dismissed as once-in-a-century events.

We won't be able to stop disasters from happening. On the contrary, climate change may increase the frequency and severity of floods, droughts and storms. But we are better equipped today to prepare for them and reduce their impact.

What do we do about climate change bearing down upon us?

We're learning as we go. We're a lot smarter this time. We understand what it takes to mobilize away from the threat of a hurricane.