Since they sound so opposing, one might wonder how someone could possibly think that our global warming may lead to a new ice age. To answer this, we need to look at a few facts that media and politically organizations really don’t want you to take notice of.
The first, most important, and most misunderstood of these is that there is absolutely no proof what so ever that global warming exists. That doesn’t mean that it doesn’t, only that there is no proof that it does.
Let’s expand on that a little. Through most of Earth’s four and a half billion year history, the climate has been steadily changing. This is scientifically established fact. It is also a fact that for most of the history of the earth, there have not been ice sheets or polar ice caps. What caused the formation of both?
It wasn’t an increase in carbon dioxide, currently thought of as the big “culprit” in climate change. In fact, during several ice ages, ice core samples from today have shown that CO2 levels were actually higher than today. This makes sense, too. Most of the carbon dioxide on the planet is locked up in the oceans, and a considerable amount in plant life, which are carbon based.
When an ice age takes hold, plants die. That doesn’t mean just trees, but nearly all plant life. That extra carbon is put back into the atmosphere. At the same time, large areas of ocean end up with a mantle of ice, not allowing the ocean waters to absorb the excess carbon.
So what caused the ice caps and ice sheets to form in the first place? Scientists have never been totally certain. Climate change is extremely complex, covering many scientific disciplines. There are pointers that indicate that the ice ages and the formation of ice had to do with both tectonic forces moving landmasses around, and the output of the sun.
The ocean is extremely efficient at moving warmth from the equator to the poles, and cold from the poles to the equator. Land disrupts the flow. We know this, and it has been measured over the years.
We also know that the sun doesn’t put out the same amount of energy all the time. Scarcely 300 years ago, there was a miniature ice age that gripped the world. Ice sheets built up and average temperatures fell. Was it a coincidence that at this time, almost exactly, the sun had virtually no sunspots, which generally work in 11-year cycles? Scientists don’t know for sure, and they can’t explain it, but the correlation is too tight to be ignored.
What does this all have to do with how “global warming” may lead to a new ice age? This can happen in many ways. First, since we don’t understand what causes climate change, people tend to over react. The water vapor and CO2 levels are two of the only things keeping this planet from becoming a frozen ball, since they keep heat in. Can you imagine what would happen if we drastically cut either water vapor or carbon dioxide, assuming we even had the ability to do so? It would cause an instant ice age (in geologic terms…”instant” could be hundreds or thousands of years.)
It can happen in regard to lack of knowledge and assuming that some signs “must’ be signaling global warming. For instance, ice caps have been melting in most places, but this has been happening for roughly 11,000 years. It isn’t anything new. It also isn’t global in scope. Some glaciers have actually been growing. By the same token, it is often the case that when one area shows an increase in temperatures (which isn’t the same as climate), other places show a decrease in temperatures. That is actually equilibrium, rather than global cooling or warming.
Giving in to short term changes may mean we will have no chance to prepare for a new ice age, assuming we even have the power to do so. This is a huge assumption, since to date man has not had the ability to change worldwide climate. They can, however, alter the climate in some local areas. Reclaimed desert areas are now producing crops, for instance, and change the desert climate in those areas.
A true global warming would also induce planetary equilibrium again. Higher temperatures cause more ice to melt, swelling the amount of water in the oceans and dropping the salinity. Water that is more saline freezes at a lower temperature than water at lower salinity. This means that more water in the ocean, which floats over the saltier water, freezes sooner, and ice reflects more heat back out into space. As a result, the planet cools down.
CO2 levels would increase, since fresh water doesn’t absorb as much carbon dioxide as salt water, but the result would still be lower global temperatures, until they once again rebounded.
The earth is a self-regulating system. It is difficult for man, who hasn’t been around all that long, to fully understand this. The key is, though, that the planet always brings itself to equilibrium. So if climate worldwide grew too hot, it isn’t hard to see that an ice age could easily be the rebound, before the climate somewhat stabilized again. Even then, though, the climate isn’t static and is always changing.
