Global Warming and the Little Ice Age

Have you ever wondered why there were paintings of the canals of Holland frozen over and people skating on them? These scenes were popularized by Hans Christian Andersen and Danny Kaye.

I've wondered how a warm place like Holland could have frozen canals.

The October 2008 issue of Acts & Facts (by ICR - Institute for Creation Research) has an article "Does Carbon Dioxide Drive Global Warming?" by Larry Vardiman. (click on the heading to this blog to go the the article.)

If you follow my enclosed link to the article, you will see Figure 1 showing that there was a warm period in Europe from 1000 to 14000 AD. During this time, the "crops flourished, the economy boomed, and the Vikings settled parts of Greenland where the ice sheets had melted back.

From about 1400 to 1900 A.D. a 500 year cold period occurred. ... grapes could no longer be grown, the economy declined, and the Viking s were forced out of Greenland by the encroaching snow and ice. Sunspots were found to be fewer during this time period, ...The coldest center portion of this period with the fewest number of sunspots is called the Little Ice Age. The canals in Holland, unlike today, froze over each winter."

This answers my nagging question.
The article also states that global warming precedes the rise in Carbon Dioxide, not the other-way-around that Al Gore claims.