Pictured: Global Temperatures from 2500 B.C. to 2040 A.D. (Projected). Prepared by climatologist Cliff Harris and Meteorologist Randy Mann.

With the ongoing battle between the "Global Warmers" and so-called "Climate Deniers" raging at full steam, it is important to look at the actual long term trends to see where the planet is actually heading. However, if you've tried to seek out actual data on any of the major U.S. search engines, like Google and Yahoo, you will find much of the long-term data scrubbed from view, and obscured by very short, discrete trends, that show only fraction of the truth behind what is actually going on with the planet.

Above is a great chart that shows climate trends as far back as 2500 B.C. What you will see here is that global warming trends, spanning 100's of years, have occurred at regular intervals over time, only to be followed by colder and colder mini-ice ages.  What is even more striking is that the colder trends tend to get much colder with each cycle and last longer, while the warming trends are cooler and cooler, and also last for shorter periods of time.

Overall, it is clear that the planet is tending towards a permanent ice age, and this is not because of man-made carbon, but rather, a natural result of the sun burning off much of its fuel, or so to speak.  In other words, the sun will only get colder over time, and the planet will eventually be uninhabitable (I've predicted human existence will end here in less than 3,000 years.)

Until then, we should all come together to protect the environment around the world from pollution and destruction.  But, a so-called 'carbon tax' is not the answer as carbon is not our enemy, but instead, is a potential solution to slowing the cooling trend that will eventually lead to a permanent ice age here in earth.