Little Ice Age 1350-1850

[navynuke]

That was on the History Channel recently, did anyone else watch it?

The last part had a discussion about global warming and man's possible contribution to it, especially compared to major volcanic eruptions, such as Tambora and Krakatoa. Those were sudden events that caused immediate results, while man's contributions are small in comparison, but steady over a long period of time.

They did paint a very dark scenario, tho, of what would happen to the world population if we entered another mini Ice Age.

It would be a drastic form of population control, at the very least, and a shift in recorded world history like none other.

[H W Copeland]

Yes, I saw it. I was struck by the fact that there are 3 theroies about the cause. The same scientific community that is now telling us that we are in for dire times, couldn't agree on the cause of an event that only ended 150 years ago.

 

This tends to erode my confidence in the predictions made by them.

 

Anyway, if we went through another ice age and the worlds population was halved, would that necessarily be all that bad?

[Kermit]

Ice age.. why not just start up some global warming to counter that, eh? Release a few tons of CFCs into the atmosphere and we're all saved. Oh, wait. We'd still be screwed. Nevermind.

[rakuenso]

the problem with that is:

 

if it's hot when it's suppose to be an ice age, how hot is it going to be when its no longer suppose to be an ice age?

[navynuke]

Yes' date=' I saw it. I was struck by the fact that there are 3 theroies about the cause. The same scientific community that is now telling us that we are in for dire times, couldn't agree on the cause of an event that only ended 150 years ago.

 

This tends to erode my confidence in the predictions made by them.

 

Anyway, if we went through another ice age and the worlds population was halved, would that necessarily be all that bad?[/quote']

Depends on which half you are in.

[Sisyphus]

Yes' date=' I saw it. I was struck by the fact that there are 3 theroies about the cause. The same scientific community that is now telling us that we are in for dire times, couldn't agree on the cause of an event that only ended 150 years ago.

[/quote']

 

I'm with you. Not only that, but the same scientific community that tells me I'll die if I drink Drano can't even agree on whether or not I should have eggs with breakfast. I'll drink what I want to, thank you very much, Mr. Scientist!

[navynuke]

I'm with you. Not only that, but the same scientific community that tells me I'll die if I drink Drano can't even agree on whether or not I should have eggs with breakfast. I'll drink what I want to, thank you very much, Mr. Scientist!

I am no scientist, but I suggest skipping the Drano. Eggs are OK. I eat at least a dozen a week, fried in butter, and my cholesterol is just a tad over 200. My wife eats like a rabbit, and hers is over 300. Different genes makes the difference. Life is so unfair, sometimes.

 

I prefer the scientists that look at the very long term of things, and they tell us that there have been cycles of warm, cycles of cold, and the honest ones say that they have only theories to explain it. Certainly now that we are a modern advanced human race we can get better at determining trends and start making some connnections between the many variables.

 

Still, long story short, I think mankind is essentially just along for the ride.

The dinosaurs came and went, staying a very long time. Who knows how long we will exist before the next catastropic event comes along and we get replaced by something else.

[bascule]

I prefer the scientists that look at the very long term of things, and they tell us that there have been cycles of warm, cycles of cold, and the honest ones say that they have only theories to explain it. Certainly now that we are a modern advanced human race we can get better at determining trends and start making some connnections between the many variables.

 

This is exactly what climate scientists are doing but it's not that simple; the climate system is full of nonlinearities.

[navynuke]

This is exactly what climate scientists are doing but it's not that simple; the climate system is full of nonlinearities.

 

Dang those non-linearities! Not to mention variables that randomly add more to the equation than is expected due to what little history we have of it.

About all we can do is catch the next trend before it gets past our ability to adapt to it. We should be able to survive a mini-ice age with our technology, but it won't be cheap.

[herpguy]

I doubt there will be another mini-ice age any time soon. most scientists think the natural rise and fall of CO2 and other greenhouse gases change the temperature which causes the ice ages. We're dumping too much CO2 in the atmosphere right now.

[jowrose]

while we are dumping so much CO2 into the atmosphere that a prolonged ice age is unlikely, a cataclysmic event (like the volcanoes that started - and prolonged - the mini ice-age) could spark a major climate change and possible lead to a rapid decrease in atmospheric temperature with possibly devastating environmental repercussions.

 

And as H W Copeland said, would some thinning of the herds be so bad? I was listening to a comedian (Lewis Black maybe) and he was contemplating that all these natural disasters (Katrina, the tsunami, the earthquake in Pakistan) are simply earth's immune system starting up in order to remove us - its disease.