Reading the title of today’s column, some may be inclined to think I’m a big fan of the Five Man Electrical Band (or perhaps Tesla ... that’s a joke) and the group’s 1971 hit “Signs,” although that couldn’t be further from the truth. Political ramblings aside (I’m sure you’ve heard enough out of me for now), I’ve always despised the song, despite its theme of anti-establishment, we are rock-n-roll and you are anything but.

Instead, the lyric brings to mind the non-controversy that is (or should be) climate change.

To say I found it ironic that Hurricane Isaac made landfall right about the time the Republican National Convention officially named good ol’ boy Mitt Romney the GOP’s presidential candidate is putting it mildly. In fact ... if it weren’t for the devastation that could (and probably will) take place in the deep south, particularly New Orleans, I’d be laughing myself silly.

Who says God doesn’t have a sense of humor?

Regardless, the past decade has revealed the proverbial tip of the iceberg when it comes to our changing climate ... no pun intended. And while I’m sure there’s a segment of our local population out there shaking their heads, fingertips to temples, saying, “Here he goes again,” well ...

Here I go again.

And when I say that research is one of my favorite aspects of this job, I might as well be George Washington, as I can not tell a lie.

According to NASA – also known as the National Aeronautics and Space Administration – carbon dioxide levels (you know, that stuff that’s “released through human activities such as deforestation and burning fossil fuels”) are at an all-time high, somewhere around 393 parts per million. That may not seem like a big deal, but when you consider that’s up from 378 parts per million in 2005, approximately 280 parts per million in 1950 and – wait for it – nearly 100 parts per million higher than in the past 400,000 years, well ... it’s worth looking at.

Then again, we all know that NASA is simply one piece in the global conspiracy that is climate change, right?

I love sarcasm, don’t you?

Here’s some other little tidbits for you, while I’m at it, also provided by NASA and a direct result of climate change:

Cold days, cold nights and frost less frequent over land areas; more frequent hot days and nights; heat waves more frequent over most land areas; increased incidence of extreme high sea level; global areas affected by drought increase; and an increase in intense tropical cyclone activity in North Atlantic.

Sound familiar?