I hope I'm wrong but seems we're just facing the beginnings of climate change. Glad I don't have children.
But the climate has ALWAYS changed wildly, in irregular cycles. The Thames River froze last in 1815, near the end of The Little Ice Age- that was caused by the Maunder Minimum of solar activity and the Sun is nothing that we can control. Look at solar activity to see how it relates to temperature swings.
However, I'm not saying that humans aren't responsible for many of the changes- let's look at it from various angles:
Animals metabolize food (every one of the billions which are living now), which causes them to lose heat- that, alone, contributes to warming of the atmosphere. Even after death, their decomposition releases heat and Methane (another 'greenhouse gas'). Plant decomposition releases the same and when that's added, it's hard to see how we could reverse the upward temperature trends, unless some kind of external force lends a hand (like decreased Solar activity).
Using fuel to heat anything causes the atmosphere to warm through radiation and CO2 release.
Idiots burning things that don't need to be burned- lots of heat & CO2 release.
Paving roads with asphalt- the difference in temperature on two sides of one street can be more than 10°F, just from the difference between concrete and asphalt paving.
Bad forest and water management are huge problems- people need to accept the fact that they can't control everything when the planet has its own ideas. The only organisms that care about this is humans- the planet heals itself over time, but the problem for humans is that it takes too much time for our survival outlook. Many will survive, even if it reaches truly critical levels because they will have moved to more moderate climate, become self-sufficient & nomadic and live a more more basic life. People need things, so manufacturing isn't likely to stop but they can operate more cleanly.
I watched a documentary with a climate scientist and he said that he's frequently asked how much the CO2 released by volcanoes increases the global temperature- his answer was "Not at all". He didn't offer more than "the dust and smoke clouds block sunlight and actually cool the Earth, but if the idea that CO2 acts like a blanket on the lower atmosphere, I would like to see data, not opinion in light of the fact that Kilauea has been erupting to some degree continuously since 1983. I do know that the average global temperature was lower for two years, just because of Mount Pinatubo but it seems counter-intuitive to think the heat and CO2 didn't matter, especially when more than 50 volcanoes were active at one time, like this year.
We need to let go of the idea that we should constantly live in absolute comfort. If we're cold, we can put on a sweater. If we're hot, take a dip in a cool bath. Cut down on energy use, when possible.
However, wacko politicians need to listen to people who actually understand science before they come up with some cockamamie plan for fixing the climate. For the record, I'm not impressed by the automakers' lack of progress WRT fuel economy and their pandering to people who 'feel the need for speed' on a mass-production basis. If people want more powerful cars and trucks, let them do it on their own time and on their own dime, not through the automakers seeing dollar signs selling cars to idiots whose only criterion for buying muscle cars is "I want it, I can pay for it, so I should have it". People who buy muscle cars, pickups and big SUVs to go to the grocery store and shuttle their kids to school need to go off and pound sand- commuter cars don't need to be bi and powerful, they need to have space for whatever needs to be transported and to get everything/everyone to the destination without getting in the way of everyone else. Mass transit is great, for people who don't need to make several trips in a day while carrying more than an armful of things- that's just not a practical means of travel for a lot of people but it does allow many people to move around at a low cost.
