In the sixties and seventies it was global freezing. Remember how most of Canada would be under an ice sheet twelve months a year by 2000? Forgot huh? Then there was the Population Bomb that was going to go off around the year 2000. The world would run out of food.
Both of these crises NEEDED big government to avert the end of the world. Remember?
People have such short memories.
Not Trekies. One of the early STNG episodes had Picard et al visiting a planet that froze over because the local people didn't care enough.
Anyone remember Pat Paulsen saying "Ronald Reagan will make this country what it once was --a vast frozen wasteland!!! (rimshot)