Tick, tick, tick, tick. You've seen the global warming commercial provided by Environmental Defense and the Ad Council -- the one with the little kids saying "tick," counting the amount of time we have left before the global warming-induced apocalypse.

It tugs at the heart strings to see a younger generation begging the adults in this world to "save them" from the inevitable catastrophic effects of global warming. If you haven't seen it, it's the kind of commercial that makes you feel guilty just for breathing.

But the last time I saw it I sat and wondered if it really affected anyone the way it was intended to. Did anyone stand up after that and decide to do anything to prevent global warming? Probably not. But why is that? For once, there's a commercial on TV that isn't asking you to buy anything material or telling you what to wear, so why is this one so ineffective?

I think to some degree that people are somewhat apathetic about a lot of serious issues, including global warming. To an extent, we may all feel helpless -- even when we do recognize and understand how dangerous the effects of global warming could be. You saw The Day After Tomorrow... right? Whether you took the message of that movie seriously or you found the effects to be ridiculously over the top, the truth of the matter is that no one knows for sure what the long-term consequences of using the Earth's non-renewable resources on a massive scale will be.

What can I do as a poor college student to help? There are obvious answers, but the sad thing is that I never see anyone doing the little things that could really make a difference if everyone pitched in. Maybe the Environmental Defense Ad Council should really focus more on publicizing more ways individuals and businesses can help prevent global warming.

The little things are what make a difference. And as poor college students, it only benefits us if we start saving more energy and recycling materials.

The sad truth is that there are more trash cans than recycling bins on and off campus. So naturally someone holding on to an empty can or an old newspaper will dispose of it wherever the nearest receptacle is - even if that means trashing it instead of waiting five minutes for a recycling bin to pop up.

So let's be honest, the only reason people aren't recycling is because they're lazy. It's especially embarassing at Penn State because recycling bins are at almost every entrance to every building.

It doesn't take a Schreyer's Honor student to know that if every student at Penn State recycled all of their wasted office paper, empty water bottles, empty beer cans and day-old Collegian newspapers, that we'd make a difference.

Saturday night I saw can upon can of Natty Light fall into a trash can. And since that bin was also filled with empty pizza boxes (which can also be recycled) and other trash, I knew that they wouldn't be recycled.

Penn State has done everything they can to encourage us to recycle - it's time for students to take more responsibility for the materials we use. Unless you expect someone else to recycle your trash (it's not going to happen) we all need to wake up and smell the garbage -- it's piling up -- and there is something you can do about it.