It's getting hot in here...

For anyone who still thinks climate science is a joke, try talking with Austrians. According to the Seattle Times, their mountains are melting.

"In the Tyrol region of western Austria, they're fighting the [glacial] melt by covering the weak spots with blankets of white plastic or foil that keep the cold in and the heat out."

Switzerland is experiencing similar problems:

"...Studies show that glaciers there have lost almost a fifth of their total area between 1985 and 2000, at a rate seven times faster than during the entire 123 years up to 1973."

Of course, this isn't anything new; Mount Kilimanjaro's glacier has been receeding for years. The same thing is happening in Peru. (Scroll down to see the time-progression photos. It's a weird site, but the visual depiction of the melting is stunning.)

Ah well. I'm sure some oil-funded scientist somewhere will write a brief report decrying the trend and chalking it all off to normal climate fluctuations. Maybe he'd like to make a presentation in Austria. I'm sure they'd receive him well.