Carbon dioxide emissions might warm the planet enough to keep Earth from once again becoming a frozen wasteland
Earth
isn't due for another ice age for 1,500 years. But by then, say
researchers from Cambridge University, carbon dioxide emissions appear
likely to have raised the planet's temperature so much that the ice
sheets will be unable to form. Will climate change "block" the next ice
age? Here, a brief guide:
Wait — an ice age?
Yup. The planet
experiences regular ice ages — scientists have discovered evidence of
five of them — and we're due for another one. "The period between the
end of an ice age and the beginning of the next is typically about
11,000 years," says Britain's Telegraph, "due to a natural cycle related
to the Earth's orbit."
So when is this one supposed to hit?
Around
A.D. 3500, "the world will be due for another round of chilling and
frozen wastelands," says the International Business Times. We're
actually already overdue — it has been 11,600 years since the last ice
age. But scientists determined that we're still 1,500 years out by
comparing current conditions to a similar period between ice ages
780,000 years ago.
And this next one might not hit?
Probably
not — at least not with current concentrations of carbon dioxide in the
atmosphere. For the next ice age to hit, CO2 levels would have to fall
to 250 parts per million by volume. Right now? The current carbon
dioxide concentration is 390 ppmv — and at that level, the ice sheets
just can't expand.
So that's a good thing, right?
Not exactly.
Man-made climate change could have "huge consequences" for the planet,
says study leader Dr. Luke Skinner. And the argument that CO2 emissions
might be helping the planet is "missing the point."
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