I Feel the Earth Move… By Cal Orey
WORLD WATCH EARTH CHANGES
Here Comes the Mini Ice Age
“It is a paradox, but global warming can trigger a cool- ing trend.” – The Day After Tomorrow
Ever wonder if another ice age is something to be afraid about—really afraid about? Chances are, you’re already aware of the signs documented in popular magazines: “In Africa, drought continues for the sixth consecutive year… record rains in parts of the U.S. caused some of the worst flooding in centuries. A series of unusually cold winters has gripped the American Far West…”
As it turns out, that excerpt is from the 1974 Time magazine issue when the concern was, if we didn’t do something ASAP, we would be experiencing another ice age within 30 years. You know, real wrath-of-God type stuff. Only one problem, the fear mongers and doom- sayers were wrong—or were they?
A Blast from the Past
When we talk about ice ages, do you think about a time when extensive ice sheets covered large parts of North America or Europe? The most recent Great Ice Age ended some 10,000 to 11,000 years ago as the Pleistocene Epoch (repeated glaciations) drew to a close and some experts believe it’s time to happen again, like the San Andreas fault which snaps every 100 years.
Indeed, history--including ice ages--can and do resur- face like an immortal monster. It’s a cyclical thing. In more recent times, global temperatures have continued to fluctuate. After the Medieval Warm Period that lasted 800 A.D. to 1300 A.D., the global climate cooled by nearly two degrees centigrade during the period from 1400 to 1800. Climatologists refer to this period as the Little Ice Age. In fact, we have actually gone through several ice age periods in the past. (Ice Age Timeline:
http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/paleo/ctl/100k.html) And, take a deep breath (or two), because the word is we may be facing another mini ice age because baby, it’s cold outside—and other spooky signs are pointing to a mega climate meltdown.
Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes
So, what are some of the causes of an ice age, anyhow? It’s not earthshaking news that extreme climate change was linked to the first Great Ice Age. Imagine chilling effects of The Day After Tomorrow events, from hail in New Delhi, Los Angeles twisters, massive superstorms, and a great tidal wave in Manhattan. The final outcome is global cooling—a new ice age.
In the real world, causes of ice ages are not crystal clear, but climate experts believe there’s an arsenal of reasons why an ice age may occur again. Unlike the sci-fi global warming to global cooling movie, an ice age wouldn’t occur abruptly. Changes that may lead to an ice age, however, include decreased solar activity, supervolca- noes, Earth’s atmospheric makeup (such as greenhouse gases—the way the Earth’s atmosphere warms the planet), and even a pole shift. (FYI: http://oceanservice.
22
noaa.gov/education/pd/climate/factsheets/whatcause.pdf ) I Will Survive
The question remains… What does the changing cli- mate mean to you and our planet? If we do experience another ice age, expect the worst and hope for the best. In other words, think cancelled airline flights, business- es closed, power outages, food shortages and soaring food costs, and social chaos amid ghost towns. What’s more, rivers, lakes, and oceans would freeze.
Our ecosystem would be at grave danger with mass die-offs of crops and farm animals. Cold temperatures would put human lives in danger because of frostbite, carbon monoxide poisoning, and hypothermia. As the Earth’s temperatures drop, it would be the end of the world as we know it.
Who Will Let the Dogs Out?
Meanwhile, since the last ice age the planet has been in an interglacial period in what has been a regular long cycle of cooling and warming. And in 2011 (after 2010 was declared one of our warmest years on record), when a whole lotta shakin’ is going on, a killer cat- egory 5 cyclone and biblical flooding in Australia and a drought in Africa, two thirds of the U.S. is dealing with record snowfall--it makes you wonder if it’s time to grab your best friend(s) and head south of the equator for survival.
The bottom line: Like predicting the weather, nobody knows for sure if or exactly when we’re headed toward the next ice age. But a future ice age is a hot topic.
My best advice: live life for today because a monster asteroid could hit the day after tomorrow. And then, you’d be in heaven saying, “I should have had more fun in the summer before the world ended.”
Excerpts from Te Sy i aln! Sria ud
h k s Flig: A Goa amn
uvvl Gie by Cal Orey and Mark Jabo.) Ice Man Cometh: Fact or Fiction
So, did the deadly BP Gulf Spill nudge Mother Earth into the next ice age? Well, some people believe satellite images in the past show that the Gulf Loop Current is broken and may stop working. The man-made disaster may lead to massive climate change and an Ice Age for Europe, say experts. To read more about the BP Oil Spill and Damage to the Gulf Stream, check out the article at
http://www.associazionegeofisica.it/OilSpill.pdf
a ry i h uhr o h eln Pw s s is Vngr lv i n Cooa al pbihd b enigo) Te Haig Pw s o oe il b rlae ac 01 o no h ste t w wclrycm ad ht:/ w werh ae ien frmcm ne.h
e n tp/
w.atqukepc terou .o / idxpp
Oracle 20/20 March 2011
Cl Oe s te ato f Te Haig o er ere—iea, Oie Ol ad hclte (l ulse y K sntn. h eln o er f Hny wl e eesd Mrh 21. Lg ot er Wb i s a
w.aoe.o
lbl Wr ig
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36