A compilation of news articles on the global cooling scare of the 1970’s
Does the bullet point list for solutions to global cooling at right look familiar? It reads almost like some of the manifestos we get from warmists today, including the suspension of Democracy as the article in the Owosso Newspaper clearly demonstrates. Thanks to Poptech for the compilation.
During the 1970s the media promoted global cooling alarmism with dire threats of a new ice age. Extreme weather events were hyped as signs of the coming apocalypse and man-made pollution was blamed as the cause.
Environmental extremists called for everything from outlawing the internal combustion engine to communist style population controls. This media hype was found in newspapers, magazines, books and on television;
News articles*:
1970 – Colder Winters Held Dawn of New Ice Age – Scientists See Ice Age In the Future (The Washington Post, January 11, 1970)
1970 – Is Mankind Manufacturing a New Ice Age for Itself? (L.A. Times, January 15, 1970)
1970 – New Ice Age May Descend On Man (Sumter Daily Item, January 26, 1970)
1970 – Pollution Prospect A Chilling One (Owosso Argus-Press, January 26, 1970)
1970 – Pollution’s 2-way ‘Freeze’ On Society (Middlesboro Daily News, January 28, 1970)
1970 – Cold Facts About Pollution (The Southeast Missourian, January 29, 1970)
1970 – Pollution Could Cause Ice Age, Agency Reports (St. Petersburg Times, March 4, 1970)
1970 – Pollution Called Ice Age Threat (St. Petersburg Times, June 26, 1970)
1970 – Dirt Will .Bring New Ice Age (The Sydney Morning Herald, October 19, 1970)
1971 – Ice Age Refugee Dies Underground (The Montreal Gazette, Febuary 17, 1971)
1971 – U.S. Scientist Sees New Ice Age Coming (The Washington Post, July 9, 1971)
1971 – Ice Age Around the Corner (Chicago Tribune, July 10, 1971)
1971 – New Ice Age Coming – It’s Already Getting Colder (L.A. Times, October 24, 1971)
1971 – Another Ice Age? Pollution Blocking Sunlight (The Day, November 1, 1971)
1971 – Air Pollution Could Bring An Ice Age (Harlan Daily Enterprise, November 4, 1971)
1972 – Air pollution may cause ice age (Free-Lance Star, February 3, 1972)
1972 – Scientist Says New ice Age Coming (The Ledger, February 13, 1972)
1972 – Scientist predicts new ice age (Free-Lance Star, September 11, 1972)
1972 – British expert on Climate Change says Says New Ice Age Creeping Over Northern Hemisphere (Lewiston Evening Journal, September 11, 1972)
1972 – Climate Seen Cooling For Return Of Ice Age (Portsmouth Times, September 11, 1972)
1972 – New Ice Age Slipping Over North (Press-Courier, September 11, 1972)
1972 – Ice Age Begins A New Assault In North (The Age, September 12, 1972)
1972 – Weather To Get Colder (Montreal Gazette, September 12, 1972)
1972 – British climate expert predicts new Ice Age (The Christian Science Monitor, September 23, 1972)
1972 – Scientist Sees Chilling Signs of New Ice Age (L.A. Times, September 24, 1972)
1972 – Science: Another Ice Age? (Time Magazine, November 13, 1972)
1973 – The Ice Age Cometh (The Saturday Review, March 24, 1973)
1973 – Weather-watchers think another ice age may be on the way (The Christian Science Monitor, December 11, 1973)
1974 – New evidence indicates ice age here (Eugene Register-Guard, May 29, 1974)
1974 – Another Ice Age? (Time Magazine, June 24, 1974)
1974 – 2 Scientists Think ‘Little’ Ice Age Near (The Hartford Courant, August 11, 1974)
1974 – Ice Age, worse food crisis seen (The Chicago Tribune, October 30, 1974)
1974 – Believes Pollution Could Bring On Ice Age (Ludington Daily News, December 4, 1974)
1974 – Pollution Could Spur Ice Age, Nasa Says (Beaver Country Times, December 4, 1974)
1974 – Air Pollution May Trigger Ice Age, Scientists Feel (The Telegraph, December 5, 1974)
1974 – More Air Pollution Could Trigger Ice Age Disaster (Daily Sentinel – December 5, 1974)
1974 – Scientists Fear Smog Could Cause Ice Age (Milwaukee Journal, December 5, 1974)
1975 – Climate Changes Called Ominous (The New York Times, January 19, 1975)
1975 – Climate Change: Chilling Possibilities (Science News, March 1, 1975)
1975 – B-r-r-r-r: New Ice Age on way soon? (The Chicago Tribune, March 2, 1975)
1975 – Cooling Trends Arouse Fear That New Ice Age Coming (Eugene Register-Guard, March 2, 1975)
1975 – Is Another Ice Age Due? Arctic Ice Expands In Last Decade (Youngstown Vindicator – March 2, 1975)
1975 – Is Earth Headed For Another Ice Age? (Reading Eagle, March 2, 1975)
1975 – New Ice Age Dawning? Significant Shift In Climate Seen (Times Daily, March 2, 1975)
1975 – There’s Troublesome Weather Ahead (Tri City Herald, March 2, 1975)
1975 – Is Earth Doomed To Live Through Another Ice Age? (The Robesonian, March 3, 1975)
1975 – The Ice Age cometh: the system that controls our climate (The Chicago Tribune, April 13, 1975)
1975 – The Cooling World (Newsweek, April 28, 1975)
1975 – Scientists Ask Why World Climate Is Changing; Major Cooling May Be Ahead (PDF) (The New York Times, May 21, 1975)
1975 – In the Grip of a New Ice Age? (International Wildlife, July-August, 1975)
1975 – Oil Spill Could Cause New Ice Age (Milwaukee Journal, December 11, 1975)
1976 – The Cooling: Has the Next Ice Age Already Begun? [Book] (Lowell Ponte, 1976)
1977 – Blizzard – What Happens if it Doesn’t Stop? [Book] (George Stone, 1977)
1977 – The Weather Conspiracy: The Coming of the New Ice Age [Book] (The Impact Team, 1977)
1976 – Worrisome CIA Report; Even U.S. Farms May be Hit by Cooling Trend (U.S. News & World Report, May 31, 1976)
1977 – The Big Freeze (Time Magazine, January 31, 1977)
1977 – We Will Freeze in the Dark (Capital Cities Communications Documentary, Host: Nancy Dickerson, April 12, 1977)
1978 – The New Ice Age [Book] (Henry Gilfond, 1978)
1978 – Little Ice Age: Severe winters and cool summers ahead (Calgary Herald, January 10, 1978)
1978 – Winters Will Get Colder, ‘we’re Entering Little Ice Age’ (Ellensburg Daily Record, January 10, 1978)
1978 – Geologist Says Winters Getting Colder (Middlesboro Daily News, January 16, 1978)
1978 – It’s Going To Get Colder (Boca Raton News, January 17, 1978)
1978 – Believe new ice age is coming (The Bryan Times, March 31, 1978)
1978 – The Coming Ice Age (In Search Of TV Show, Season 2, Episode 23, Host: Leonard Nimoy, May 1978)
1978 – An Ice Age Is Coming Weather Expert Fears (Milwaukee Sentinel, November 17, 1978)
1979 – A Choice of Catastrophes – The Disasters That Threaten Our World [Book] (Isaac Asimov, 1979)
1979 – Get Ready to Freeze (Spokane Daily Chronicle, October 12, 1979)
1979 – New ice age almost upon us? (The Christian Science Monitor, November 14, 1979)
And from the National Center for Atmospheric Research:
Source: http://www.iaea.org/Publications/Magazines/Bulletin/Bull165/16505796265.pdf
While a silent majority of the scientific community may have been more skeptical, you ironically find one of the most outspoken supporters of modern day Al Gore style global warming alarmism was promoting global cooling in the 1970s, the late Dr. Steven Schneider;
“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.“ – Life of Reason, George Santayana
Related articles
- CIA 1974 National Security Threat: Global Cooling/Excess Arctic Ice Causing Extreme Weather (climatedepot.com)
- 1974 Shock News: Global Cooling To Kill One Billion People (junkscience.com)
- NCAR 1974 : Global Cooling And Extreme Weather Is The New Normal (stevengoddard.wordpress.com)
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Poptech says:
March 4, 2013 at 8:24 pm
Actually my only intention was to show the overwhelming evidence of media hype, so the 1970s global cooling alarm can no longer be denied by the warmists.
Even from just a cursory review of the references it is quite easy to see that these were largely based on scientific positions.
==================================
You’ll have to excuse me while I call BS. I think you can provide significantly more clarity than that relative to your “only intention”, Poptech. You end your blog piece with this:
“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.“ – Life of Reason, George Santayana
I personally don’t know anyone living through the ‘70s who doesn’t remember the “global cooling” media hype. The “warmist” denial on that point is miniscule.
The persistent meme advanced by “skeptics” generally falls along these lines: Remember the ‘70s when the scientists told everyone we were entering a new ice age? Remember all news articles, magazine pieces, and television features that spoke about the catastrophe that would ensue? Well, the scientists were wrong. The media was wrong. Don’t be fooled again.
Isn’t it curious how nicely your blog piece shakes-hands with that meme? … In my opinion, it’s not curious at all – I’ve viewed your blog.
Of course the meme fails because the climate scientists doing primary research and who published their peer-reviewed findings during that time overwhelmingly concluded that we were not heading into a new ice age. Rather, they projected a period of global warming. It is THAT PART of the “skeptic” meme that “warmists” deny is accurate … and rightfully so. And now with forty years of additional experience and research behind us it’s clear the predominant ‘70s scientific opinion was correct. You don’t get to credibly cling to opinions expressed by PhDs who didn’t do primary climate research and/or didn’t publish their peer-reviewed findings.
Nobody denies the media propensity to hype, to fail in their subject understanding, and to exaggerate. In fact that’s gotten much worse since the ‘70s. I reposted Kajajuk’s strong comment on that point and on your list. Here it is again:
“… NONE of the citations are peer review articles and are the media mouths releasing “news” as they still do; speculating dramatically for readership as they still do, mindful of the interests of their owner’s agendas, as they still do…”
So Poptech, please clarify your “intention”. Because your claimed intention of disproving the “warmist” denial that the ‘70s global cooling alarm ever happened is nonsense. Seems to me your intentions more closely align with the dubious sentiment “don’t believe the scientists – don’t get fooled again”.
Poor John@EF arguing against his strawman. Try learning how to read,
“During the 1970s the media promoted global cooling alarmism with dire threats of a new ice age. Extreme weather events were hyped as signs of the coming apocalypse and man-made pollution was blamed as the cause. Environmental extremists called for everything from outlawing the internal combustion engine to communist style population controls. This media hype was found in newspapers, magazines, books and on television […]
While a silent majority of the scientific community may have been more skeptical, you ironically find one of the most outspoken supporters of modern day Al Gore style global warming alarmism was promoting global cooling in the 1970s, the late Dr. Steven Schneider”
I love warmists who cannot read.
FYI, I have added 32 more sources since this was published here and keep finding more. So much for the 1970s global cooling alarmism being a myth.
John@EF says:
March 5, 2013 at 8:42 am
=============================================================================
So while the weather stayed cold the warming predictions were ignored by journalists and nonspecialists alike, but when things warmed up all hell broke loose; scientists became as radical as any journalist–or preacher–with predictions of doom and prescriptions for salvation. Flooding coasts, hurricanes, drought, the works, warming will bring it all on.
What’s still missing (except around these parts) are scientific voices of reason tempering the hysteria with the recognition that neither warming nor cooling is all bad, that each has its advantages, that warming has more advantages, and that the doomsayers as always don’t know what they’re talking about, including the scientists. We don’t know what caused the LIA (unless a dearth of sunspots) but we don’t want a repeat. Thank goodness for CO2–it should at least give the warmists hope. We search in vain for intelligent climate alarm.
And whereas no rational argument can disuade the believers, we can only fight rhetoric with rhetoric. “Don’t believe the scientists – don’t get fooled again.” Keep it up, Poptech! –AGF
How come you “forgot” to include this passage in your quotation:
“For a long time man has been trying to do something more than talk about the weather. Ironically and unfortunately, he may already have done far more than he imagines, or desires.
That, at least, would seem to be the moral of the latest horror story from the pollution front. Since the advent of the Industrial Revolution, debris form manufacturing processes has been accumulating in the atmosphere to such an extent that the earth is now enveloped in a layer of dust which has the effect of reflecting back into space a portion of the energy radiated by the sun.
The result has been a measurable lowering of temperatures, not merely in industrial areas but worldwide. So far it is only a fraction of a degree. But even minor temperature changes, if prolonged and widespread, have startling effects on climate and, consequently, on plant and animal development and survival. It would not take many degrees to trigger renewed expansion of the polar ice masses.”
Owosso Argus Press, 26 January, 1970
Just change the algebraic sign to plus and the last sentence reads: “It would not take many degrees to trigger a renewed SHRINKING of the polar ice masses.”
Interesting what both discussions about climate change – although in the 70s it was rather a non-discussion – have in common: both see human activities behind climate change.
We were able to counter the past challenge by introducing environmental protection. The question now is: will we be able again to meet the challenge?
Denying that there is a problem in the first place does not do much to help with the issue.
Jochen Baumer: What is in common between the pending ice age of the ’70’s and runaway global warming is the following: (a) man’s sins are creating a climate disaster; (b) we must atone for those sins immediately to stave off that disaster and (c) we can control the climate. The differences are that the population/resource/ice age disaster of the ’70’s was predicted in just a few years and the global hothouse is predicted too far in the future for anyone to remember the predictions.
“Cleaning up the environment” has been attributed to increased global warming.
I don’t believe we can control the climate. I also don’t believe that all affects on the climate have been ignored in order to concentrate on mankind’s sins and the need for redemption. The compilation of failed ’70’s predictions shows just how unscientific and baseless climate disaster predictions have been.
“Global warming” is “chemtrails” for 21st Century urban leftists.
OLDTHINKERS UNBELLYFEEL INGSOC
Thank you so much for the info on this site! Not scientifically minded myself but a personal witness to the “Global Cooling” messages we were bombarded with in the 70’s. To those who insist the scare didn’t happen, keeping patting yourselves on the back while joining the realm of neo-nazis that claim the holocaust didn’t happen either. I have vivid memories of the the attempted grooming of a generation – tv specials, class discussions, a class field trips to our local planetarium and watching a “star show” that included the message of impeding doom brought on by a new ice age and what our city will then look like under a sheet of think ice; lifeless, cold, abandoned. Don’t think a 9 year old would be completely affected by that? Did you think we would just forget? .