According to the National Ski Areas Association (NSAA), Lake Tahoe experienced a 20 to 30 percent decrease in revenue over the peak of the ski season as it lacked that key ingredient to any successful ski area: snow.

I made my list and checked it twice, but little snow at Tahoe was definitely one of those holiday gifts I would like to exchange for store credit rather than having to worry the shop might close down from global warming.

I am not an environmental scientist, so I will not try to directly link the scarce snow to global climate change, but it certainly represents one of the potential consequences our planet may face if we are unable to do enough to stop the excessive spread of greenhouse gases.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) projects global temperatures will increase three to seven degrees Fahrenheit over the 21st century, a much larger and faster global change than any over the last 10,000 years.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) maintains that this change will have a number of detrimental effects around the world. Some examples of the negative impacts of global climate change are: worse heat waves, poor agricultural yields in some regions that were previously produced plenty, increased flooding or water shortages, rising sea levels and coastal erosion, extinction of certain wildlife and of course the compromise of many recreational activities.

For California, many of those consequences will (and may already have) directly impact our way of life with our extensive coastlines, waterway-dependent metropolitan areas and massive agricultural sector, unless we really commit to making a difference.

When about 68 percent of pollution that contributes to global warming comes from the transportation and residential sectors, according to NSAA, we obviously have a great opportunity to do more on the individual level.

The EPA has a number of suggestions for doing our part, such as using more efficient lighting, better home insulation and recycling. While these suggestions are nothing new, they are important to keep in mind.

There are also a number of suggestions for drivers from the EPA that include using more public transportation, checking your tire pressure, and changing how you drive to increase fuel efficiency. All of these suggestions should also save you money at the pump.

More importantly, our university can be a leader in the East Bay community by promoting more efficient technology on campus to reduce our creation of greenhouse gases.

While the university does have a commendable sustainable campus framework as part of the university master plan, more could always be done.

According to CSU East Bay’s master plan, all new buildings will be required to use more efficient toilets and urinals that flush 1.28 and .125 gallons of water respectively.

However, last quarter the university renovated a number of bathrooms on campus but did not make any changes to the majority of existing toilets or urinals in those restrooms upon construction.

I will admit that new tiling and flooring may make evacuating our bowels a more pleasing phenomenon on campus, but I prefer water-use reduction to aesthetic enjoyment. The administration does seem deeply committed to future sustainability on campus but I would hope beautification is considered secondary to results.

So, welcome back to campus after a relatively warm winter break and let us do our part to reduce the IPCC’s 99 percent certainty of contraction in snow cover areas. I really do want to get my Lake Tahoe trip in one of these days.