You may hear that lots of scientists in the 1970s were predicting a new Ice Age.  This isn't true.  There was a slight cooling between the 1940s and the 1970s.  We know now that this was because of sooty air pollution blocking the Sun.  Because of this cooling, a few people thought we might be starting a new Ice Age. 

This was by no means a popular scientific opinion.  There were a few magazine articles about it, but that was about all.  Very few people took the idea seriously.  As one writer put it, you'd find more agreement about the potential for alien invasion.

Compare that to the situation today, with international scientific panels and the wealth of evidence that points to man's role in our changing climate.  This level of agreement among scientists is unheard of and should be taken seriously.  Today, we have a widespread scientific concensus, supported by national academies and major scientific institutions, solidly behind the warning that temperature is rising, man-made greenhouse gases are the primary cause and it will get worse unless we drastically reduce emissions. 

Plenty of people seem to have strong opinions about man-made climate change.  Who do you trust - a peer reviewed climate scientist or a chap in the pub who has read a couple of articles in the daily paper ?

Myth eight - the atmosphere is too big for us to have an impact