Monday, May 17, 2010

The Coming Ice Age

Today the rage is all about the coming "Global Warming".

But in the 1970s, the great fear was of the "Coming Ice Age".



The above is a respected scientist, George Kukla, a member of the Czechoslovakian Academy of Sciences, prior to emigrating to the US, and a pioneer in the field of astronomical climate forcing. In 1972 he became a central figure in convincing the United States government to take the dangers of climate change seriously. Kukla believes all glacial periods in Earth's history began with global warming (understood as an increase of area-weighted average global mean temperature). He believes Earth's recent warming is mostly natural and will ultimately lead to a new ice age.

There is some wonky twist in our brains that makes us love the dread of some great disaster lingering just a bit in our future. Foolishly, many people become victims of their own exaggerated fears.

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