Source: The Discovery of Global Warming by Spencer W. Weart, Harvard University Press, 2003, page 140.  

Notes:  Dr. Wallace Broecker is a professor of earth and environmental sciences at Columbia University and a scientist at Columbia's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory.  In 1987, Natural History magazine published an article by Broecker, "The Biggest Chill."  

In this article, Broeker warned about a possible future disruption of the global ocean conveyor belt with the melting of the Greenland ice sheet.  Human caused climate change would be the trigger of this swift disruption.

Spencer Weart wrote about Broecker on page 140:

"There was reason to believe (an ocean) shutdown could happen swifty.  In many regions the consequences for climate would be spectacular.  Broeker was foremost in taking this (unpleasant) news ot the public.  In 1987 he wrote that we had been treating the greenhouse effect as a 'cocktail hour curiosity,' but now 'we must view it as a threat to human beings and wildlife.'  The climate system was a capricious beast, he said, and we were poking it with a sharp stick."

Texas has the reknowned bumper sticker, Don't mess with Texas.  However, with the delicate balancing act of our global climate system, maybe the bumper sticker should say instead, Don't mess with mother nature. 

Image Source: mslistologist.com