During the Maunder Minimum (a period of about a century when there were
no sunspots) Europe (and maybe elsewhere) was distinctly cooler, but it
was hardly an ice age -- that is why it is called a "mini ice age."
The general view is that the real ice ages are caused by aspects of the
earth's tilt and are somewhat cyclic. Temporary cooling for a year or
so can be caused by volcanoes or by changes in solar activity. However,
it's a complex business with lots of factors.
They have a two-bit word, "anthropogenic," meaning caused by people, and
the general view of climatologists is that the last century's warming
was that -- from human activity -- burning fossil fuels.
Problem is, the environmental movement, which is in most countries
allied with the political left and has an anti-business mind-set, jumped
on this and I think exaggerated the consequences and thereby of course
caused a political counter-reaction by the right, and their tendency to
deny it.
Politics aside, the evidence is that the planet is warming and there is
no doubt that the greenhouse gases have been shown to be possible
culprits through no end of lab studies. There is a danger here, not
just for inconveniences down the road but for real catastrophe further
down.
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