The climate change debate still thrives after seventy years

September 1, 2026

Of the many popular topics of discussion these days — like can men have babies; the many crimes Donald Trump has committed; we really need to do away with police and prisons — there is the on-going talk about our environment.

And, of course, we need to be aware of harmful things that may be going on that could have a serious negative effect of our environment, and the people.

Many warnings over the last few decades have been, “If we don’t stop using fossil fuels to produce electricity and for other things, the United States and likely the rest of the world will suffer and die.”

But not all of these warnings and predictions of doom and gloom are valid, or have come true. And 33 of them will be mentioned.

As always with serious topics, there are at least two sides of the argument. Lately, there has been an effort to silence, or at least reduce the argument that says that our environment is not in any serious trouble.

Let’s go back several years to the mid-to-late 1900s and look at some of these predictions: The Arctic Ocean Will Be Navigable by Mid-Century (1958); Global Famine by 1975 (1967); New Ice Age by 21st Century (1970); Ice Age in 50–60 Years (1971); Catastrophic Cooling in a Century (1972); Space Satellites Confirm Ice Age (1974); Time Magazine: Another Ice Age? (1974); No End to Cooling in Sight (1978).

The reference to Time Magazine mentioned a question about another Ice Age being on its way. Time noted that there was growing Arctic ice, cold winters, and animals migrating as a result, showing that indeed Earth was entering a long period of cold temperatures.

Only a few years later, in 1979, this prediction appeared: “Arctic Ice Will Vanish.” And that warming theme became the dominant one, to wit: Environmental Catastrophe by 2000 (1982); Maldives Underwater in 30 Years (1988); Entire Nations Could Disappear by 2000 (1989); UK Snowfalls Will Vanish (2000); Maple Syrup Industry Dead in 20 Years (2001).

The nations disappearing warning came from a United Nations official, warning that global warming must be reversed to prevent this from occurring.

So, as of 1979, global warming was the problem. Or was it? Three years after the prediction of the maple syrup industry being killed a new warning mentioned the possibility of Britain freezing: “Britain Becomes Siberia by 2020 (2004).”

But then three years after that, warming was again the dangerous threat to life on Earth: “Point of No Return by 2016 (2006); Arctic Ice Gone by 2013 (2007); Climate Deadline is 2012 (2007); Ice-Free Arctic by 2013 (2007); North Pole Ice Cap Melts Away in 2008 (2008); North Pole Could Melt by 2008 (2008); North Pole to Be Ice-Free for First Time in History (2008); Arctic Will Melt in Five to Ten Years (2008); Arctic Ocean Ice-Free by 2014 (2009).”

The “point of no return” came from an Associated Press article that paraphrased Al Gore saying that greenhouse gas emission must be drastically reduced within 10 years.

This trend of warming predictions continued into the next two decades: “Arctic Ice-Free in Two Years (2013); Australia’s Snowfall on the Decline (2017); No More Arctic Ice After 2022 (2018); Humanity Will Go Extinct by 2023 (2018); Glacier National Park Sign Predicted No Glaciers by 2020 (2020); No Snow California by 2021 (2021); End of Snow to Affect 76 Million Americans (2022).” 

The young Swedish climate activist, Greta Thunberg, tweeted that humanity would go extinct by 2023 unless fossil fuel use was immediately ended. At the time, in 2018, she was only 15-years-old, but somehow managed to gain much attention.

And now comes the reality that not one of these 33 predictions of a serious climate crisis has been correct.

Some scientists maintain that the warming that has occurred did so because there is too much carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, resulting from burning fossil fuels, such as coal and oil. 

However, others say that it is actually part of a natural process, and not due to man-made problems. They say that we are still in an Ice Age that began more than 100,000 years ago.

The Earth has alternating periods of cooling (glacials) and warming (interglacials) that last for about a hundred thousand years. As an Ice Age progresses, cooling ends and warming begins. That is where they say we are now.

Although the many predictions of disaster have proven false, there are still many scientists and lay people who either believe that global warming is a man-made problem that needs to be corrected, or are determined to preach that line for some non-scientific purpose.

And, history shows us that there have been periods where our atmosphere has been much, much warmer than it is today.

Here, from climate.gov, is one example: “The fact that these thick, calcium-rich rock layers sit directly on top of rock piles left behind by retreating glaciers indicates that temperatures rose significantly near the end of the Neoproterozoic, perhaps reaching a global average higher than 90° Fahrenheit. (Today's global average is lower than 60°F.)”

Today, we are not really hot. So, relax, and stop freaking out.

The Earth’s history is extremely long and very complicated

December 24, 2024

Estimates of Earth’s age and how long homo sapiens have been around vary somewhat. Numbers like three-to-four billion years are offered as Earth’s age, and our “ancestors” are estimated to have been here for six million years. However, our form of humans has been around for only about 200,000 years.

Over those countless centuries Earth has experienced many changes, and temperature fluctuations are among them. We have had both warm periods and cold periods along the way, and they have alternated back and forth many times.

Smithsonian Magazine explains that “Our planet’s average surface temperature did not stick close to a central point but instead has swung into very hot and very cold periods through the past 485 million years.”

“Earth has experienced cold periods (informally referred to as ‘ice ages,’ or ‘glacials’) and warm periods (‘interglacials’) on roughly 100,000-year cycles for at least the last 1 million years,” according to climate.gov. “The last of these ice age glaciations peaked around 20,000 years ago.” During these cycles, global average temperatures warmed or cooled anywhere from 5-15 degrees Fahrenheit.

Moving from an ice age to a warm period, and vice versa, is a slow, lengthy process, taking tens of thousands of years. And we are currently in a warming period.

Currently, there is an energetic debate over Earth’s increasing temperatures, with scientists and others on one side expressing a fear of temperatures warming to a dangerous level due to increasing levels of carbon dioxide/greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere. 

The scientists and others on the opposing side say that this carbon dioxide level is not dangerous, and in fact that double the amount of it would actually be a good thing, spurring more and stronger plant life. Plants absorb carbon dioxide and emit oxygen into the atmosphere, and that is a good thing.

The climate alarmist side has predicted several catastrophes over the last 50 years, none of which actually occurred:

* In the 1970s we were warned of global cooling and a descent into a new ice age. 

* Paul Erlich claimed worldwide famine by 1975.

* It was claimed several times since 1988 that “we only have ten years left to save the planet.”

* Global warming “creator” Jim Hanson, predicted that lower Manhattan would be underwater by 2009. It isn’t.

* Al Gore predicted that the Arctic ice cap would be gone by 2015. It isn’t.

*We were told that polar bears were going to be extinct by now, but they are still around in large numbers.

*More droughts were predicted, but there have actually been fewer droughts.

* We were warned of more frequent and more intense hurricanes and tornadoes, but they have actually decreased in numbers and severity.

* Polar ice caps melting due to global warming was going to flood island nations. They are still here.

And now there is another study with a similar message. This one, conducted by the University of Bristol, also focuses on carbon dioxide/greenhouse gasses as the culprit: we must stop burning fossil fuels now, it warns.

As reported by the UK based LADbible Group, “The report suggests that Earth will cease to have any mammal inhabitants that cannot adjust to living with temperatures of between 104 to 158 degrees Fahrenheit.”

Their research showed “all mammals will die … [and] that humans are likely to go extinct in 250 million years,” unless we stop burning fossil fuels and increasing greenhouse gas emissions now.

Obviously, 250 million years is a long way off, so we have a good bit of time to both observe what is happening and adjust if needed.

Science tells us that Earth has experienced much warmer periods in its geological history. It is said that 2023 was the warmest year on record since recordkeeping began in the late 19th century. The warming theorists say this means the Earth is warmer now than at any point in recent history.

But these temperature records only go back about 150 years, and that is a miniscule part of a warming or cooling period.

Furthermore, there are questions about the accuracy of the temperature records. Three scientists from the CERES environmental nonprofit organization — Willie Soon, Ronan Connolly, and Michael Connolly — believe that there is not a strong enough argument for the choice of the available global temperature trends used in these predictions.

In an article on The Heritage Foundation website, they commented that, “The scientific debate is still ongoing, and the scientific community is not yet in a position to establish whether the observed temperature changes since the 1800s are mostly natural, mostly human-caused, or a mixture of both.”

Another article on the Heritage site titled “Global Warming: Observations vs. Climate Models,” author Roy Spencer — Visiting Fellow in Heritage’s Center for Energy, Climate, and Environment — notes that “Warming of the global climate system over the past half-century has averaged 43 percent less than that produced by computerized climate models used to promote changes in energy policy.”

The evidence does not support the United States making radical changes in the way we want to live, and the things we prefer to have. Especially when other countries are unconcerned about it.