the best-measured glacier in North America, the Nisqually 
    on Mount Rainier, has been growing since 1931

    Geologist can play an important role in these independent 
    assessments. Geologic history tells us how climate has 
    changed naturally at all time scales, from the two "snow-
    ball earth" periods in the Precambrian, through the ice 
    ages in the Ordovician and Carboniferous-Permian, to the 
    Cretaceous warm period, to the ice-age period we are 
    living in now, and from the 1500-year climate fluctuations
    in the Holocene through the century-scale fluctuations in 
    the past millennia (of which the present "Modern Warm 
    Period" is one), to the climate effects of the 11-year 
    sunspot cycles. Glaciologists can tell the AGW alarmists 
    that the retreat of some glaciers is not due to AGW They 
    can point out that many glaciers have been retreating 
    since the Little Ice Age, while others have been static or
    are advancing. They can point out that many glaciers 
    started to retreat already in the eighteenth century, long
    before any increase in man-made greenhouse gases. For 
    instance, the Franz Josef Glacier [South Island, New 
    Zealand] started to retreat in 1750 and has had several 
    advances since then as well, the last one starting in 
    1996. Another example is the large Gangotri Glacier in 
    the Himalayas, which has been retreating since 1780.