text: 1997 A year in which the accepted "truth" about climate change began to melt away. Prophets of doom foretold of a greenhouse world of increasing heat, disease, flooding, and unpredictability. Science argued otherwise, seeing a reduction in severe cold, a longer healthier life span, and a more begnign climate. In this, our third annual States of the Climate Report, we examine perceptions of risk and related realities.