The comment came quickly and drew a chuckle from the convenience store clerk who sold the gentleman his soft drink just before he walked out — into the cold. The men exchanged pleasantries, commented on the weather this morning, to which the customer said, “It must the global warming that everyone’s talking about.”

Maybe he meant it in jest. But I doubt it. I’m quite sure the comment revealed a point of view. Bless his heart.

The scientific evidence is mounting hourly. The world is heating up. We’re losing our polar ice caps. Scientists have said in recent days that the Arctic ice cap might disappear altogether during the summer in the next three, maybe four decades. The moisture in all that ice has to go somewhere. Sea levels will rise. Coastal cities will be inundated.

None of this is really being debated by serious scientists. What is under debate is the cause. Is it because of carbon emissions created by humankind? Or is it a natural warming cycle that the planet must endure every bazillion years or so?

It does irk me to no end, however, when folks bundle up against a biting “blue norther” and make snarky comments debunking a demonstrable — and potentially catastrophic — scientific finding.

Planet Earth is far larger than our little corner of it.