I think that the idea of a general trend of "global warming" has been pretty much dropped by the science community in favour of the term "climate change". It's an acknowledgment that we don't have enough data yet to predict what overall effects human activities will have on the global climate. While I understand the want to think that the whole thing is a fad, doing so is just sticking your head in the sand. There is way, way, way too much evidence supporting man-made climate change to ignore it, or to claim it's 'just a fad'.
I have a feeling that what we will continue to see for the near future is continued and increased volatility in the climate. Colder, longer cold snaps, longer, hotter warm spells, worse droughts, severe floods, bigger storms etc. instead of a general trend of warming or cooling.
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