[Dales]

With the economy back up to the Reagan levels, global warming is passe, and we are back to the rollickin' days of global cooling. Get retro, baby!

[JethroHathAWay]

Dales is rockstar LOC! Good post Dales!

[Doctor Stochastic]

I should point out that increasing the amount of heat energy in the atmosphere and oceans may not lead to just global heating. One could have more evaporation and snowfall leading to hotter tropics and ice covered poles. The average temperature may be hotter but the extremes more pronounced than at present. Current climate models don't predict things in this detail. Or one could have desert conditios around the equator and warm poles (this is the press's view.) Or the first scenario could lead to a higher albedo (ice and snow reflect more heat than land) and thus trigger a cooling effect. About all that is known is that more carbon dioxide and more methane in the atmosphere will lead to more solar energy deposit; what happens after that isn't so clear. (My guess is just longer summers and more violent storms.)