Given the increasingly suspicious premise of global warming in the wake of ClimateGate, what then can be the cause of the "extreme weather" we're supposedly experiencing? Well, dams of course!

Large dams may cause shifting regional weather extremes, causing scientists to wonder if aging dams around the world can withstand the extreme weather events they may inadvertently generate...

Large dams apparently triggered more extreme rainfall in southern Africa, India, Central Asia and the western United States in particular when compared to other regions, with rainfall becoming more common and more extreme...

The fact that at least 45,000 large dams have been built worldwide since the 1930s makes questions about their safety a global concern. When it comes to potential solutions to such problems, authorities may want to let out water during dry seasons to lower the level of dams to have more storage capacity available during extreme rainfalls.

So 45,000 large dams now amount to a global safety concern? Maybe we need an IPDS (International Panel on Dam Safety).

Clearly the dams don't cause a change in the climate; rather the reservoirs of water that are created behind them could have an impact--which means Minnesota, land of 10,000 lakes, is probably screwed.

While I suppose it's interesting from a scientific standpoint to determine whether or not small- to medium-size bodies of water can effect the local weather, this is hardly a global safety crisis. The article itself indicates that one potential solution is, believe it or not, to anticipate the rainfall and to make sure enough water is let out ahead of time. This has been done ever since dams were created. We need a study to tell us this?

Of course...

Hossain did note other factors could be responsible for this trend they have seen. "There is the question of whether or not this is all part of global warming instead of a local effect with dams," he noted. "That of course needs to be looked into more carefully."

Which came first, the chicken or the egg? The scientist asks whether or not maybe what he's observing is actually just global warming and not dams.

But why not look at it the other way around: Perhaps "global warming" isn't caused by CO2--maybe it's caused by the 45,000 dams we've built around the world. I guess we better get rid of all the dams in the world, just in case. Or maybe we can institute "cap and dam" where those countries that don't need their dams can sell them to those countries that do.

Is anything not a crisis these days?