We have to wake up and smell the coffee. Rivers are overflowing their banks and destroying levies. Tornados are picking up homes, barns, people and animals. In some areas, the ground is saturated with rain while others are suffering from drought. And we are facing a mean hurricane season.

Why is Mother Nature having such a hissy fit? Global warming is the source of all this misery, experts say, much of it due to the burning we have spewed into the atmosphere.

A recent report predicts the Arctic ice shelf will melt completely this year, the first time in memory. We must stop using oil and coal for fuel, or we will destroy the only world we'll ever have.

Windmills and solar collectors are sprouting all over the nation. They are clean, renewable sources of energy. Certain crops are touted as replacements for gasoline. Progress is being made in harnessing the constant power of the ocean's tides. With all these possibilities available, why aren't we making a full-court press to employ them?

In lieu of these clean, proven sources, Washington is supporting an increase in nuclear energy! Pro-atomic-power forces say it is a "clean" process. Tell it to the people who had to leave their homes in Chernobyl!

Atomic waste has a radioactive life of 10,000 years. And yet we still haven't developed a system for safe disposal of it. Started in the Reagan administration as a place to bury it, Yucca Mountain in Nevada has cost us more than $8 million -- and has yet to receive any waste at all! "Not in my backyard," say the residents.

The NIMBYs fear groundwater contamination; earthquake or terrorist forces breaking down the sealing systems.

Who will stand to profit from the ill-conceived plan for more atomic plants? Follow the money.

European countries are closing atomic sites and seeking to send the waste to the United States. No thanks.

Those of us old enough to remember World War II can recall how quickly the nation geared up for war. For instance, the first of 2,751 Liberty ships was launched on Sept 27, 1941. Two-hundred-fifty-thousand of the 250-ton sections were pre-fabricated in plants throughout the nation and welded together in about 70 days at a cost of $2 million. What has happened to that kind of American ingenuity and resourcefulness?

Americans put their shoulders to the wheel and did what their leaders said needed doing quickly and efficiently. We could do it again if someone would come up with a clear vision.

We are all being stressed by the accelerating price of gasoline, food and all items dependent on transportation. Let's get it together and make thriving alternative-energy industries and the resulting new jobs a reality.

Nag our representatives into action for the sake of the earth, our loved ones and future generations.

Lorraine Lilja is a retired Press-Republican reporter. A collection of her columns, "Lilja's World," is for sale at local bookstores. Lilja can be reached at llilja17@hotmail.com.