It's not the earth, it's the SUN. 1995 to 1998 were the last three years of a solar maximum, in the middle of a sunspot cycle. We're now in a time between sunspot cycles. The old one has finished, but the new one is relatively weak, so the longer it's weak, the less warming happens on earth.
Folks who actually do SCIENCE are predicting a solar minimum around 2030, that may even rival the Maunder and Dalton minimums, which created mini ice ages in the Middle ages and the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Remember Valley Forge,the ice on the Delaware that Washington had to go through on Christmas Morning to surprise the Hessians, and Londoners skating on the Thames?
Thanks!
The earth does go in cycles, its just cycles caused by the sun. I guess I should have expounded more on that. ;)