The trend is well documented. There was a PBS Nova episode on it a few years back. It was called "Dimming the Sun". Fascinating. The cooling trend, which is well-documented, was caused by massive particulate pollution actually blocking sunlight, as well as other factors. This trend has served to partially neutralize global warming. The bad news is that the same particulates that shield us from sunlight also cause major respiratory damage in humans. The good news is that governments have acted to clean up these particulates on a massive scale. Therefore (more bad news) the effect of global cooling is wearing off just when we need it most.

Nature is far more complicated than most people can appreciate. Climate is a fairly new field, and scientists are only now beginning to understand the complex factors that cause weather and climate patterns.

I've seen liberals make the same argument that Bachmann is making, in reverse - using a warm day in winter to "prove" that global warming is real. Of course it doesn't prove anything, but we have to guard against thinking that the complexity of climate change can be explained in a newspaper article or blog post.

St. Ronald was a master of the American political truism that if you repeat a lie over and over, it will become a political truth. Unfortunately, reality doesn't work that way. If we continue allow the deniers' "truth" to prevail politically, we will have some uncomfortable explanations to make to our children and grandchildren.

Hell, I don't even live there and I sent money to her opponent.

The theory of global cooling is a lot like the theory of intelligent design. The books have lots of pretty pictures.

When these idiots stop pushing religion in the science class, then they can lecture us about how science actually works, I'm not holding my breath though. Let's see, a party of whores for the oil industry versus people who have actually studied the phenomenon. Gee, I wonder who is more reliable. I bet they think Jesus makes all those toxic chemicals that get put into the atmosphere magically disappear. Assuming they've even given said chemicals that much thought. Weather patterns of ALL kinds have been getting worse in recent years, that doesn't tell you something is going on? These stupid hicks would stick their hands in a wood chipper if Rush told them to. What do they know about anything?

Jeb is correct, we have had a minor cooling effect from particulate matter, but that crap is pretty rough on the lungs, and he's also right that it's disappearing.

It's also possible that global warming could, ironically enough, lead to an ice age, with just the right set of circumstances. If the Gulf Stream were to shut down, the speculation is that North America would freeze over pretty quickly, and ice reflects light back into space.

The idea that we're entering a long-term cooling phase is bunk, though. Barring a catastrophe like the loss of the Gulf Stream, temperatures will continue to rise, as predicted by physics and climatology.

just suddenly prefer water to ice?

To me the biggest problem we have to overcome with these mouthbreathers is the terminology. Somewhere in the past 'global warming' became the label for climate changes. So, anytime there is a cold weather event these folks all roll their eyes and proclaim, 'Ain't no global warming!'

If we could replace the label 'global warming' with something more inclusive, like 'global climate change' (I don't think it's the best choice), then we could point to the more exteme swings in weather patterns as being linked. Things like greater incident of drought, more intense storms, greater swings in temperature (warm and cold), etc.

(especially in the summer) but it is actually pretty cold in January. Almost every January, as a matter of fact! Some Januarys are a colder than others, but cold is cold.

someone votes for an anti-science moron like Michelle Bachmann, god kills an unborn baby. So don't do, good people of Minnetonka -- don't have the blood of the innocent on your woolly mittens.

People who actually understand the difference between weather and climate have been using the phrase "Global Climate Change" for many years. Unfortunately, the general public was taught the name "Global Warming" and it's stuck. The common sense understanding is that CO2 traps more heat in the atmosphere and that should uniformly warm the planet. Our atmosphere is much more complicated than that. Adding *energy* to the atmosphere does create a slight aggregate warming, which we have observed. But it also changes weather patterns, increasing the frequency of record low temperatures, and increases the severity of winter storms.

If they'd wanted to make their point, they would have pointed out that New England, the central plains, and the Northwest have all been having record breaking cold and incredible levels of snowfall. They would have also mentioned that Europe is in the grip of intense cold with the Dutch canals freezing over for the first time in decades.

But they didn't.

FYI &/or E. What Miz Bachmann's meteorologist brother was talking about is the maunder cycle which is the cycle of sunspot maxima and minima over time. Sunspots run in an 11 year cycle from maximum to minimum and the maunder cycle tracks the size of the maxima and minima over time. Last year we had a sun with no sunspots - a minimum of minima. Earth's climate is absolutely close coupled with the solar sunspot activity. Maxima are warmer and dryer and minima are colder and wetter. If, as has been suggested, we are at a maunder minimum with an extended period of no or very few sunspots, our climate will get dramatically cooler.

She is all class isn't she ;}

Talk about cherry-picking facts. The show didn't say the earth is cooling, just that the sun light is dimming. The climate is still getting warmer, just at a slower rate because of this dimming.

Remove the dimming and global climate change is even worse. But in no way did the show say that the earth is cooling.

Half truths are almost as bad a outright stupidity.