The Cooling World

Newsweek, April 28, 1975



Denis Dutton - philosophy / criticism / aesthetics / anthropology / commentary / amusements /

Here is the text of Newsweek’s 1975 story on the trend toward global cooling. It may look foolish today, but in fact world temperatures had been falling since about 1940. It was around 1979 that they reversed direction and resumed the general rise that had begun in the 1880s, bringing us today back to around 1940 levels. A PDF of the original is available here.
A fine short history of warming and cooling scares has recently been produced. It is available here. — D.D.

There are ominous signs that the Earth’s weather patterns have begun to change dramatically and that these changes may portend a drastic decline in food production – with serious political implications for just about every nation on Earth. The drop in food output could begin quite soon, perhaps only 10 years from now. The regions destined to feel its impact are the great wheat-producing lands of Canada and the U.S.S.R. in the North, along with a number of marginally self-sufficient tropical areas – parts of India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Indochina and Indonesia – where the growing season is dependent upon the rains brought by the monsoon.
The evidence in support of these predictions has now begun to accumulate so massively that meteorologists are hard-pressed to keep up with it. In England, farmers have seen their growing season decline by about two weeks since 1950, with a resultant overall loss in grain production estimated at up to 100,000 tons annually. During the same time, the average temperature around the equator has risen by a fraction of a degree – a fraction that in some areas can mean drought and desolation. Last April, in the most devastating outbreak of tornadoes ever recorded, 148 twisters killed more than 300 people and caused half a billion dollars’ worth of damage in 13 U.S. states.
To scientists, these seemingly disparate incidents represent the advance signs of fundamental changes in the world’s weather. The central fact is that after three quarters of a century of extraordinarily mild conditions, the earth’s climate seems to be cooling down. Meteorologists disagree about the cause and extent of the cooling trend, as well as over its specific impact on local weather conditions. But they are almost unanimous in the view that the trend will reduce agricultural productivity for the rest of the century. If the climatic change is as profound as some of the pessimists fear, the resulting famines could be catastrophic. “A major climatic change would force economic and social adjustments on a worldwide scale,” warns a recent report by the National Academy of Sciences, “because the global patterns of food production and population that have evolved are implicitly dependent on the climate of the present century.”
A survey completed last year by Dr. Murray Mitchell of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reveals a drop of half a degree in average ground temperatures in the Northern Hemisphere between 1945 and 1968. According to George Kukla of Columbia University, satellite photos indicated a sudden, large increase in Northern Hemisphere snow cover in the winter of 1971-72. And a study released last month by two NOAA scientists notes that the amount of sunshine reaching the ground in the continental U.S. diminished by 1.3% between 1964 and 1972.
To the layman, the relatively small changes in temperature and sunshine can be highly misleading. Reid Bryson of the University of Wisconsin points out that the Earth’s average temperature during the great Ice Ages was only about seven degrees lower than during its warmest eras – and that the present decline has taken the planet about a sixth of the way toward the Ice Age average. Others regard the cooling as a reversion to the “little ice age” conditions that brought bitter winters to much of Europe and northern America between 1600 and 1900 – years when the Thames used to freeze so solidly that Londoners roasted oxen on the ice and when iceboats sailed the Hudson River almost as far south as New York City.
Just what causes the onset of major and minor ice ages remains a mystery. “Our knowledge of the mechanisms of climatic change is at least as fragmentary as our data,” concedes the National Academy of Sciences report. “Not only are the basic scientific questions largely unanswered, but in many cases we do not yet know enough to pose the key questions.”
Meteorologists think that they can forecast the short-term results of the return to the norm of the last century. They begin by noting the slight drop in overall temperature that produces large numbers of pressure centers in the upper atmosphere. These break up the smooth flow of westerly winds over temperate areas. The stagnant air produced in this way causes an increase in extremes of local weather such as droughts, floods, extended dry spells, long freezes, delayed monsoons and even local temperature increases – all of which have a direct impact on food supplies.
“The world’s food-producing system,” warns Dr. James D. McQuigg of NOAA’s Center for Climatic and Environmental Assessment, “is much more sensitive to the weather variable than it was even five years ago.” Furthermore, the growth of world population and creation of new national boundaries make it impossible for starving peoples to migrate from their devastated fields, as they did during past famines.
Climatologists are pessimistic that political leaders will take any positive action to compensate for the climatic change, or even to allay its effects. They concede that some of the more spectacular solutions proposed, such as melting the Arctic ice cap by covering it with black soot or diverting arctic rivers, might create problems far greater than those they solve. But the scientists see few signs that government leaders anywhere are even prepared to take the simple measures of stockpiling food or of introducing the variables of climatic uncertainty into economic projections of future food supplies. The longer the planners delay, the more difficult will they find it to cope with climatic change once the results become grim reality.
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Damned right I'm an equal opportunity offender, I'm a Conservative!

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"I suppose I always knew America would eventually break the planet, like some ghastly, hyperactive toddler that gets hold of a mobile phone and then smashes it repeatedly against the edge of a table". Quote from british journalist.

Yes, the earth goes though changes. The question I have is; what is Man's part in this? Do we really need draconian changes in our lifestyles to combat global warming? Do we need more totalitarian edicts from government bureaucrats to ward off Global Warming?

Vi

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Damned right I'm an equal opportunity offender, I'm a Conservative!

Why do people act like Global Warmist supporters expect everyone to offer up thier first born or something. Jesus Christ, does your fat ass have to drive a Hummer to your desk job every day? You can't drive a... *gasp* NORMAL size car like everyone else? You could fit three average size european cars into one Hummer or Expedition. Or maybe they ask you not to buy bottled water flown over from Fiji. Do we really need that bullshit?

Absolutely we need more government influence. The businesses making billions of dollars off killing the planet won't stop by themselves you know.. Obviously the people are slow on the uptake (This thread proves it) We buy what's cheap and available, and untill someone with some power does something (ie. GOVERNMENT) Shit will not change. Heaven forbid we want to spend some money on RENEWABLE energy sources. We already spend billions on oil that we can only use ONCE.

Check out Germany and how they have implemented solar panels to supply their people with energy. There are no thought police driving the streets trying to nab people with aresol cans in their garage. It's just the same fucking Germany, just a little cleaner. What a scary concept.

And yes, the weather changes. We can measure the changes very accurately through ice core samples and other geologic methodes. How many times do scientists have to say that this change is different from the past chages?

Why don't you see if you can find an article on climate change from the 1800's next time? Global cooling and global warming are both very real. One is caused by pollutants, the other by greenhouse gases. End rant.

I would think this would be an easy concept for most people on this sight.
An eco-system can only support so much, just like a grow room. If you keep adding more plants, or intoduce the wrong elements, or knock it out of wack in any number of ways, what happens?
I agree with Medicine Man, Mother Earth is the host and we're just parasites sucking the blood out of her and she's about to get dipped.
A few good disaster of biblical proportions should bring everything back around. Less people, less animals, less deforesting, less waste.
Grow more trees and more pot take a bus or a train when you can and maybe we can put off the inevitable for a few more generations.

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http://www.rollitup.org/grow-journal...park-grow.html

4thiest ...

Not ALL scientists agree that global warming is caused by Mankind. Also, I really don't want to live within a system where free choice is a matter of history. I can't imagine living a life where we drive Tinker Toy cars, or where bottled water is outlawed and regulatory incrementalism gradually ties the knot of serfdom ever so tightly to where we cannot move without permission. By the way ... how do you feel about nuclear power?

Trailer Park Guy sez ...

"I agree with Medicine Man, Mother Earth is the host and we're just parasites sucking the blood out of her and she's about to get dipped.
A few good disaster of biblical proportions should bring everything back around. Less people, less animals, less deforesting, less waste."

Perhaps you and Med would be especially kind to "Mother Earth" by putting Med's A-1911 to your heads and help the environment out. I'm sure "Mother Earth" wouldn't miss two fewer "parasites."

Vi

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Damned right I'm an equal opportunity offender, I'm a Conservative!

I think you kind of missed my point.
You can drive your monster truck and fill the land fills with all your water bottles, it's going to happen no matter what we do. There's only finite space and resources. We may be able to slow things down but sooner or later the human race is going to strip the planets resources and that is it. I read recently that cows give off more CO2 than autos. Hell, all us potheads miximg sugar and yeast are adding to the plroblem.

Hey, but I understand, some people always miss the point and figure the best way to handle things is with a gun

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Oh, I thought your point was that humans are nothing more than parasites. Glad that wasn't your point cuz my thinking is just the opposite. In other words, my thinking is: Man has dominion over the earth. Man is made in God's image.

Phew, I thought for a moment there, I thought that you were putting us in the same class as cockroaches. I'm relieved.

Dude, can't you see what's happening? There is nothing the regulators don't want to regulate. Now its bottled water. There is no end to their intrusions.

Vi
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Damned right I'm an equal opportunity offender, I'm a Conservative!

There you go with the attacks. I've held off on attacking your ignorance, but you leave me no choice. Suggesting we commit suicide is about as low as one can go. just because we suggest people should be a little more responsive to the changing weather means we should shoot ourselves in the head. I'll keep my 1911 and my AK reserved for guys like you when the push comes to shove, thank you. We live on a planet that can support 2 billion long term and has 8+ billion and growing. Weather change is a certainty and a lot more bad things, human induced, and for the parasite thing, fuck you asshole, I paid into SS for 49 years and get a small pension from the union, so I'm livin the dream, I repeat Fuck you!

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"I suppose I always knew America would eventually break the planet, like some ghastly, hyperactive toddler that gets hold of a mobile phone and then smashes it repeatedly against the edge of a table". Quote from british journalist.

Well, I really don't like talking about religion, because faith is something people can't discuss logically. Most people bring god into a subject when basic facts don't agree with their opinions.
I believe in God, I just have a problem with religion.
One rule book is about the same as another, people pick and use what they want and ignore the rest.
And that's all I have to say on that subject.

__________________
Check it out, let me know what you think.

http://www.rollitup.org/grow-journal...park-grow.html