Let’s not give ‘right-wing-nut screeds from the past five years’ all the credit for global cooling claims of the ’70s. While science may not have validated the idea, pop culture (i.e. Newsweek) promoted it. So you can blame some of the pop media as well for making so many people skeptical this time around.

peace.

No, you *don’t* remember any such thing as scientists clamoring about global cooling in the 1970′s. Mainly because there were no such scientists.

What happened in the 70′s was the discovery that Milankovich cycles (nutation of Earth’s axial tilt) appeared to correlate with the last several ice ages. There were some data that *might* indicate Earth was cooling and that we were heading into another cooling cycle according according to the model. Several scientists testified to congress that this *might* be a problem but there was simply not enough known and they really, really, needed more funding to figure it all out. OH, and the reason they said *at* *the* *time* that it may not be a problem? All that CO2 we were spewing would cause *warming* that most likely would swamp any possible cooling.

What you are remembering is right-wing-nut screeds from the past five years or so claiming there was a clamor in the 1970′s of global cooling.

And even if there *were* clamors about cooling, you don’t think climate science has advanced any in the past 30+ years?! If not, go look up “radiative transfer” and “integro-differential equations” and consider the advances simply in computer power over, say, the last year or two, let alone 30.

I have only one thing to say;
“Sorry, if our explanations of climate science are too complex to fit on your bumper sticker.”

– signed, the Scientists who understand these sorts of things.