I wonder if, if antarctica was currently ice free, and there were signs that it may freeze up in the near future that the possibility of the antarctic freezing would be heralded as the biggest threat to the earth possible, and that it was created by man, and the only way to solve it would be to raise taxes and reduce oil usage
The Niven-Pournelle book “Fallen Angels” posits exactly that, with energy rationing and abandonment of science seen as salvation even as the glaciers are descending on the US after overtaking Canada.