Interesting to here this history recast. As a glaaciologist who began work in 1981, I had a chance to read what scientists were saying right then, and in the published literature, global cooling was not part of the dialogue. Was it mentioned by a few scientists yes, but at climate meetings even in 1981 that I attended global warming was the focus, not global cooling. The statements that climatologists felt global cooling was occurring is very misleading. A few did, most just observed that we had a few cold years.

I believed in global cooling simply because the trend for x number of years that decade was cooling. So what's the big deal; foossil fuel burning made it a tad less cool than would have otherwise been the case!

Laura

Here is my comment on global warming. Man gives himself too much credit thinking that he can have substantial impact at something so overwhelming large. Just standing on the beach and seeing the tides at work is strong evidence of how small we are in the great scheme of things. The planet is warming, no doubt, but I believe man's contribution is small. Furthermore, any major attempts to reverse the process could have cataclysmic results. Ever hear the saying, "It's not nice to fool with Mother Nature"?

Reducing pollution is paramount for a better world, no doubt. However, trying to develop a plan to alter the climate might be very unwise, indeed.

Have a good day John K

"In Katie Fehlinger's latest video, Katie and AccuWeather.com's Ken Reeves discuss why scientists in the 1970s believed that Global Cooling -- not Global Warming -- was the concern."

Then Katie and Ken are hacks. The opinion of the sceientific community regarding climate prediction at the time was made very clear in a National Academy of Sciences/National Research Council Report

"..we do not have a good quantitative understanding of our climate machine and what determines its course. Without the fundamental understanding, it does not seem possible to predict climate".

1975 Understanding Climate Change: A Program for Action.

Read more about the '70's 'global cooling' myth here

http://www.realclimate.org/index.php?p=94