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The typical go-to argument of the climate change deniers is that "Scientists predicted an ice age back in the 70's." Well as usual, they are being less than honest or chose to simply take cues from their chosen right wing demagogue. While a small percentage did, the majority were already claiming quite the opposite.
Quote:
At the same time as some scientists were suggesting we might be facing another ice age, a greater number published contradicting studies. Their papers showed that the growing amount of greenhouse gasses that humans were putting into the atmosphere would cause much greater warming – warming that would a much greater influence on global temperature than any possible natural or human-caused cooling effects.
By 1980 the predictions about ice ages had ceased, due to the overwhelming evidence contained in an increasing number of reports that warned of global warming. Unfortunately, the small number of predictions of an ice age appeared to be much more interesting than those of global warming, so it was those sensational 'Ice Age' stories in the press that so many people tend to remember. The fact is that around 1970 there were 6 times as many scientists predicting a warming rather than a cooling planet.
Excerpt: “The world "could be as little as 50 or 60 years away from a disastrous new ice age, a leading atmospheric scientist predicts,” read a July 9, 1971 Washington Post article. NASA scientist S.I. Rasool, a colleague of James Hansen, made the predictions. The 1971 article continues: "In the next 50 years" — or by 2021 — fossil-fuel dust injected by man into the atmosphere "could screen out so much sunlight that the average temperature could drop by six degrees," resulting in a buildup of "new glaciers that could eventually cover huge areas." If sustained over "several years, five to 10," or so Mr. Rasool estimated, "such a temperature decrease could be sufficient to trigger an ice age."
Ever hear of the Population Bomb? Scientists in the 70's predicted massive famine by the 1980's. They also declared that India couldn't possibly feed 200 million more people. Meanwhile India proved them wrong by adding more than 500 million people since then
Ever hear of the Population Bomb? Scientists in the 70's predicted massive famine by the 1980's.
The Population Bomb was a single book written by a single person.
While that one person preached doom and gloom, the rest of the scientific community invested its time and effort in creating the new technologies that rendered his predictions moot.
Had they taken the OP's suggestion and simply stopped what they were doing because the technology wasn't ready for prime time, Erlich probably would have been right.
Hooray for the scientists who actually believe in progress.
Ooooh... that word is too uncomfortably close to "progressive.'
The typical go-to argument of the climate change deniers is that "Scientists predicted an ice age back in the 70's."
Well, to be honest "impending" in geological terms could mean hundreds, even thousands of years away. Most people fail to realize that, and define impending as if it were related to the human lifespan.
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