My take is that there is indeed a trend of overall global warming, although it is very dificult for most people to grasp while it is much colder than it normally is in certain places at times. This of course would be very similar to a graph chart. The direction of a graph chart also goes up and down, but tends to go in one direction or another while still moving up and down in smaller increments.
It only takes one or two degrees to to throw things out of balance over a prolonged period of time. The dynamics of the way the earth does things is very complicated, and there are many facets that combine forces to create it's ever-changing state.
I have seen models of the way the ocean currents work, and what a huge affect just a few degrees in temperature will do to dramatically change the governing flow of the Gulf Stream and the way it coincides with the polar caps. This is what will cause the most drastic climate change in itself, because it will no longer go as far north as it normally does before it cools and sinks down, and then returns south again normally, which will in turn cause the frozen north to slowly creep southward into the next ice-age. But regardless of this, there will be another one anyway at some point. Our small amount of time in existence on this planet is nothing in the overall scheme of things, and the world will continue to change dramatically whether we are around to see it in our tiny "blink-of-an-eye" lifetime's or not.
I think we are simply drastically excellerating the inevitable to be quite honest.
When I saw the dynamics of how the ocean currents actually work is what really opened up my eyes up as to how global warming will affect the planet. It doesn't take much, it is just that most human's can't really fathom the complexity of this, and how it works in harmony with everything else that goes on. The last ice-age was only a mere few thousand years ago when it receeded to where it is today, and that is probably comparable to a person blinking their eyes in an entire lifetime in comparison to the countless ice ages that have gone on here in the past. Heck, at one time the entire planet was supposedly covered in solid ice one mile thick or something like that. That is simply impossible for most to comprehend, and so is bizarre-looking animals walking around 80 million years ago and far beyond.
If you think about it, we are just a mere nano-second "snapshot" life experiment on this planet. We will be doomed too just like everything else ever has been.....the true irony is it will probably be due to our own hand before it is something naturally occurring. 
~Doug
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"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"
my website -serpentinespecialties.webs.com
