My problem these days is not how bad climate change might be, but that the people that a large part of the population listen to are not using science and instead broadcasting what the 1% fringe has to say. But, what ExxonMobil has done is really anger-worthy. I checked myself and saw enough to know that the Union of Concerned Scientists report is accurate (linked to my ExxonMobil posts below). I don't know specifically what Hannity and Limbaugh are saying these days, but I've heard enough other people broadcast (or ExxonMobil-supported organizations put on their websites) that scientists are doing this as a virtual hoax in order to get funding.

I think you (John) underestimate the disruption that will occur from global warming. And, beyond my expertise, but short of nuclear winter, the time scale on onset of an ice age may be very different (1000 years?) than climate change set off by CO2 and other Greenhouse gasses: business as usual scenario would have CO2 this century higher than any time in last 50 million years. And, yes, CO2 does cause warming, this is just scientific fact...like plate tectonics. Also, it is probably a misconception that there was any kind of scientfic consensus in the 1970s that we were headed towards an ice ice. I doubt there was even a majority of climate scientists saying that. I think the orbital geometry has us headed towards an ice age but the periods of the various components are in the tens of thousands of years. Rising CO2 has been measured since the 1950s and the trend was well-established by the 1970s.
Chris