Cryogenic Future World?

A few weeks ago, the United States had rallies in many cities to draw attention to the threat of global warming, or more generally, climate change.  Now that is a subject itself, because what does one mean by "global warming?"  Does that mean "the earth's atmosphere is heating up and we need to understand and do something about it" or does it mean Al Gore's Imminent Apocalypse theory?  Might the reality of the situation lie somewhere in between?  My problem with such movements is when questioning the magnitude of the variables involved in climate change draws accusations of "global warming denial."  I didn't graduate with honors from a major research university for being a "blathering idiot," Congressman DeFazio.

Someday I'll go deeper into the global warming equation and models, but for now I'll go straight to the point that there's also significant evidence that the world is only a decade away from dipping into another Little Ice Age.

What I find interesting is that Russia is doing exactly the opposite of what the U.S. is doing and warning policy makers of the risk of another ice age.  Hmmm...  The West is worried about a global warming meltdown and Russia is worried about an approaching ice age.  It's like the Cold War all over again, isn't it?  Snow Miser vs Heat Miser.

That's really the the level of debate taking place on climate change, isn't it?  You're either a "denier" or an "alarmist."  This obscures the real issues and also takes public attention off of some of the most actionable countermeasures.  Regardless of whether people believe in Al Gore or think global warming is a hoax, they can probably agree that deforestation, industrial pollution, CFCs, etc, are problems that need to be mitigated.  If you present the debate in that context then you get people moving forward on very actionable and impactful measures.  This is where I think many well-meaning climate change activists are being misled, because it benefits the financial-industrial interests that profit from the status quo.  The powers that be seem to want the debate to remain polarized.