Stumbled into the canonical list of Global Warming links.
I believe that the earth is entering a period of generalized warming much like it went through in the 900's when wine grapes were being grown in Greenland. I also believe that we are leaving the general cooling period that began in the 1500's. I have blogged about climate change a number of times. One example is here: Global Warming - Arctic Ice stability
There was also a little ice age as well a few hundred years later. Check out this Pieter Bruegel (the younger) painting of ice skating. And when was the last time the rivers in Europe froze solid?