Yes it very true dragon, during the middle ages there was a "mini ice age" where the temperature around the globe dropped by 0.8 to 1 degree C...
In response to the NZ government query late this year they passed the Emission Trading Scheme (ETS) which is an absolutely dreadful piece of legislation and it had over 800 ammendments passed (rammed through) on the last day of parliament into law before the election (which is tomorrow and the incumbent is likely to lose)...
It is the first ETS (or similar in the world) to include the agriculture sector (by far NZ's biggest industry)... It is estimated its going to cost an average farm $4,000 a year in new taxes (when the farmers cannot reduce over half their emissions, for example you cannot stop cows and sheep farting which is a big producer of methane and counts against our Kyoto commitments, I wish I was joking)...
The governments reasoning..? They say if we are not a world leader on climate change people will not buy our goods (a country of 4 million people..!)... What a crock of s**t... The hilarious thing is global warming estimates range from about 1 degree to 5 degrees, if it is in the middle say 2.5 degrees it will actually make NZ much more fertile and even more productive (we are currently ranked very highly in farming effenciency)...
Climate change is being over exagerrated as a way for scientists to get their name up in lights and the UN and governments to get more power... Go to the green political party website in your country and search the word "ban", you will not believe what they say you must give up for the good of "Mother nature", sounds a little too similar to the "Mother country" don't you think..?
Another scary thing is when ancient climates have been studied they have found there is usually a big upturn in temperature before an ice age set in..! We may be setting ourselves up for the wrong kind of climate..!
Additonally there is the fact that temperatures increase in and around cities (up to 3 - 5 degrees), mainly due to lack of trees, lots of glass, metal and ashphalt... Where are the majority of weather stations and temperature measuring equipment located you ask..? You guessed it, in and around cities... We may be gearing up for the wrong fight based on results measured from an out of equilibrium experiment...
The issues around creating a computer model for the entire planet's weather have been proven to be be a joke...
You may not believe any of what I've written, you believe 1 thing, half or even all of it... All I'm suggesting is to not blindly believe what is being fed to us or what is "popular", have a look at some of the very credible academics who have issued dissenting voices...
In the end I believe if we look to promote clean air, clean water, safe natural food and protect wild areas and animals the issues of man made climate change will resolve itself...