Meltdown: Why Ice Ages Don't Last Forever

by Stephen Battersby - May 24th, 2010 - New Scientist

We now know that the polar ice caps started to form around 30 million years ago, as carbon dioxide levels fell. Around 2.5 million years ago, as it got colder still, a cycle began in which more extensive ice sheets repeatedly spread across the northern hemisphere and then retreated. At first, these ice ages were relatively minor and occurred roughly every 41,000 years - just as you would expect based on the changing tilt of Earth's axis.

But then, a little less than a million years ago, the pattern changed. A series of much more severe ice ages began that lasted 100,000 years. That is a big mystery, because although the shape of the Earth's orbit alters slightly over periods of 95,000 and 125,000 years, this has a far weaker effect on the seasons than the other orbital cycles. Why would the deepest ice ages be driven by the smallest changes in summer sunshine?

As this article explains, the new theory is based on discoveries in caves in China. The ice ages began when CO2 levels went down. New evidence also makes it clear that CO2 is released as ice ages end, as now when we are coming out of the little ice age. However all this evidence supports the theory that the earth's tilt drives the growth of ice ages, within some broader cycle and complexity that affects it greatly and is still not understood. It is this secondary effect that results in ice ages double the tilt cycle, though still in sync with it, that needs further research.

It is interesting that other scientists have focused on evidence that solar activity impacts temperatures here on earth, independent of the cooling cycle associated with the earth's tilt.

That theory is explored in the article by Lawrence Solomon, in the National Post, called "It’s the Sun, stupid".

The science for both of these theories is in agreement that CO2 does not cause the increase in temperatures, but is instead correlated with whatever drives temperatures higher. One contributing factor which causes cooling is clearly volcanic activity.

A recent meeting of the global warming fanatics took an interesting turn. Since the last thing we want is another ice age, and the evidence is that at least for the short term temperatures are going down, these extremists were told they need to proclaim this cooling as man caused, and insist that the world needs to turn over control to them to stop the MAN CAUSED GLOBAL COOLING.

Once again the science is not supportive that man is causing the cooling, but the chicken little extremists are certain they can convince the socialist politicians of the various national governments (including the socialists in America known as Democrats) along with the global socialist proponents in the United Nations that greater government control, with environmentalists guiding the efforts, is the only thing that will prevent a complete and total disaster.

I have only one question. Are you really stupid enough to believe that proven liars and charlatans should be given totalitarian political power to stop a less rational man caused global cooling hypothesis now that their efforts to sell man caused global warming are coming apart?