Where There's Smoke....

Even as Hurricane Wilma sits over the Yucatan Peninsula, its category four winds pounding the living crap out of Mexico, the debate rages over global warming. Is the spate of recent major hurricanes a sign of man-made climate change, or is it merely part of a natural cycle? Is it something that will eventually wane, or is mankind royally f*cked in the tuckus? All good questions, and ones I shall ponder as I continue to dig my underground shelter.

But the global warming debate shouldn't merely be about hurricanes along the Gulf coast. It needs to be about everything that's happening all around the entire globe.

For example, recent data shows that arctic ice is melting at an accelerated rate. The spring thaw in Siberia began 17 days earlier in 2005 than the 50 year average. Is that part of a natural cycle?

In Africa, 82% of Mount Kilimanjaro snow cover has disappeared over the past century. Again, is this a natural cycle?

Central Europe was battered by unprecedented heavy rains and flooding this past summer. And last year, thousands died in France during a severe heatwave.

And elsewhere around the world, weather anomalies continue to happen. Sure, bad weather happens all the time. But at some point you have to step back, look at the big picture, and ask yourself where "natural" stops and evidence of global climate change begins.

After all, if you wait till the room is completely filled with smoke before admitting there's a fire, you're going to die.