Meteorologists in Tampa, Florida announced, “…conditions in the Atlantic again were ripe for spawning tropical storms that could slam into Florida or other parts of the Eastern U.S. or Gulf Coast with potentially devastating and deadly consequences.”

Now is it me, or has extreme weather worsened in the past 10 or 15 years? Or has technology simply brought us more reports on hurricane, volcano, earthquake, and tsunami activity?

Max Mayfield ?��Ǩ��� director of the National Hurricane Center, said, ?��Ǩ?�I can tell you that we have had more tropical storms, and more hurricanes, since 1995 than any other 10-consecutive-year period on record.”

There are arguments that global warming has heavily contributed to the instability of weather patterns. And there are those who disagree, like William Gray, a professor in Colorado State University’s department of atmospheric science.

“In a way, you didn’t know how lucky you all living in Florida were,” Gray told the conference, which Gov. Jeb Bush attended Wednesday. Gray predicted a “bleak picture” in terms of increased major hurricane activity for the next 15 to 20 years. The former Air Force weather forecaster said that he did not think the added storm activity was because of global warming, but that it was the result of natural processes.

Theories, theories, theories. I?��Ǩ�Ѣm not a meteorologist, but I do know that hurricanes are more easily created in and travel further in warmer waters. And since scientists have determined the planet was absorbing more energy from the Sun than it was emitting back into space, I think it is safe to say that we are at least, potentially, making a cycle of turbulent weather worse that what it could be.

So what do we do? Conserve energy? Reduce our plastic usage? Do everything we can to reverse the effects of global warming?!?! No. We build sea walls to keep Mother Nature out. We build on cliffs to challenge Mother Nature. We use energy to entertain us and pretend that there?��Ǩ�Ѣs enough energy to go around for everyone?��Ǩ��forever. So what will happen when we run out of engery? Enter the Long Emergency. Is it just another theory??

It?��Ǩ�Ѣs tough to take all the warning signs seriously, especially nice nothing really terrible has happened yet. But that is no reason to not take action.