US: The Alaska permafrost is melting, glaciers are receding and the Arctic ice is breaking up earlier every year.
And if President George Bush required further evidence of global warming in his own back yard he need look no farther than the Great Lakes.
Only yesterday, as he prepared to depart for the G8 summit in Scotland where climate change will top the agenda, it was reported that the average surface temperatures of the Great Lakes are at their highest in five years, with readings between 15 and 20 degrees in Lake Superior, warmer than they were in mid-August last year.
Mr Bush conceded in an ITV interview yesterday that climate change is "a significant, long-term issue that we've got to deal with", and that it was to "some extent" man-made.
Nevertheless, he said he was not going to this week's G8 summit with any plans to agree to Kyoto-style climate change concessions.
He has informed British prime minister Tony Blair to expect no favours in return for supporting the war in Iraq, he told ITV.
Mr Blair has put climate change and African poverty on top of the agenda for the meeting of the leaders of the seven leading industrialised nations and Russia at Gleneagles.
"I really don't view our relationship as one of quid pro quo," Mr Bush said.
"Tony Blair made decisions on what he thought was best for keeping the peace and winning the war on terror, as I did.
"So I go to the G8 not really trying to make him look bad or good, but I go to the G8 with an agenda that I think is best for our country."
Referring to a possible G8 accord on climate change Mr Bush said bluntly: "If this looks like Kyoto, the answer is 'no'.
"The Kyoto treaty would have wrecked our economy.
"I think you can grow your economy and at the same time do a better job of harnessing greenhouse gases. That's exactly what I intend to talk to our partners about."
The White House has long been sympathetic to the arguments of the American Petroleum Institute that uncertainties about the causes of global warming justified delaying restrictions on emissions of carbon dioxide and gases that trap heat in the earth's atmosphere.
A White House official, formerly employed by the oil industry, repeatedly edited US government reports on climate change to dilute claims that oil and gas emissions were responsible, until he was forced to resign last month when this was disclosed by the New York Times.
Mr Bush and Vice-President Dick Cheney, both with backgrounds in the oil industry, have called only for voluntary restrictions on the growth in emissions up to 2012.
According to the White House, Mr Bush is dedicated to climate change policies that "grow economies, aid development, and improve the environment".
He also "promotes technological innovation to achieve the combined goals of addressing climate change, reducing harmful air pollution and improving energy security in the US and throughout the world".
It also states that Mr Bush is committed to cutting US greenhouse gas intensity - the amount emitted per unit of economic activity - by 18 per cent by 2012; and that in 2003, US intensity declined by 2.3 per cent.
But pressure for more urgent action is growing in the United States itself.
California's Republican governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, concedes that "the debate is over" on global warming and challenged Mr Bush on his assertion that taking action would damage the US economy.
"We see the threat posed by changes in our climate," Mr Schwarzenegger wrote in the Independent on Sunday, "and we know the time for action is now."
With 4 per cent of the world's population, the US produces 25 per cent of all greenhouse gases; in contrast to countries such as India, which, with almost four times as many people, is responsible for 3 per cent of emissions.
The other G8 countries, Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and Russia, have signed up to the Kyoto Protocol to cut emissions of carbon dioxide which came into force in February.
A last-ditch round of negotiations by senior G8 officials during the weekend in London may result in an agreement that goes some way to recognising the science behind global warming.
In his interview, Mr Bush said he was committed to finding new energy sources to replace fossil fuels and combat greenhouse gases, an indication of the area where the US might find compromise with France on climate change, so the G8 can put pressure on emerging powers like China to curb greenhouse emissions.
A draft communiqué on climate agreement is also reported to emphasise energy security to make it more attractive to the US.
On Africa, Mr Bush said before setting out for Denmark en route to Scotland: "We will make some more commitments . . . Our contribution has been significant and there will be some more."
He also told ITV that the US would only cut farm subsidies if the European Union acted too.
"We've got agricultural subsidies not nearly to the extent that our friends in the EU have," he said.