The authors of "Unstoppable Global Warming - every 1500 years" point out that, in the past million years, we have had some 600 global warming and cooling cycles lasting between 1000 and 2000 years each, and that there is very little to indicate that the current cycle is any different to the previous 599 or more.  They conclude with the following comments, which we should all consider very carefully before submitting to any governmental or other "policy" that intends to dig into our pockets or reduce our standard of living on the pretext of trying to combat nature:

"Human society should attempt to put binding constraints on human emissions of greenhouse gases only if the advocates of man-made warming can demonstrate three things:

"1. That the greenhouse gases are certain to raise global temperatures significantly higher than they rose during previous natural climate warming cycles;
"2. That the warming would severely harm human welfare and the ecology;
"3. That rational human actions could actually forestall such overheating.

"To date, the advocates of man-made warming have not been able to meet any of these minimum requirements. [...]"

We have much more to fear from the cooling part of the cycle, presumably several hundred years hence.

There may be a scientific consensus that global warming is happening - just as it has many times before - but there is certainly no scientific consensus to support any implication that it's all our fault, or that we can do anything to stop it.  A careful distinction needs to be made between these two notions, even though some may find it an "inconvenient truth" …

 

See here and here for recent comments on the subject on NZ’s independent social commentary “GoG blog”.

 

Further reading:

 

Firstly, for those who believe that only climate scientists are competent to write on the subject:

 

Michaels, Patrick J.: Meltdown: The Predictable Distortion of Global Warming by Scientists, Politicians and the Media (CATO Institute, 2005, rep. 2007) – the author is a research professor of environmental sciences at the University of Virginia and a past president of the American Association of State Climatologists.

 

and also very strongly recommended:

 

Booker, Christopher, & Dr Richard North: Scared to Death: From BSE to Global Warming: Why Scares Are Costing Us The Earth (Continuum, 2007, rep. 2008)

 

Svensmark, H., & Nigel Calder: The Chilling Stars: A New Theory of Climate Change (Icon Books, 2007)

 

Lomberg, Bjørn: Cool It: The Skeptical Environmentalist’s Guide to Global Warming (Marshall Cavendish, 2007)