Carbon Emissions Holding Off Next Ice Age

Darn! But we were really looking forward to that perpetual winter...

Thanks to the ever-increasing output of carbon dioxide, the planet's next ice age has been held off indefinitely, according to a new climate analysis. Slight changes every year in Earth's orbit have kept the planet in a cycle of thawing then freezing for the last few millions of years, with ice ages occurring every 11,000 years or so. The last one ended about 11,600 years ago, but the team, made up of researchers from Norway, the U.S., and the U.K., has determined that there is simply too much carbon dioxide in our atmosphere for the natural process to take place again. Models have estimated that under typical circumstances, the next ice age should begin within the next 1,500 years. Glaciation can only begin when CO2 levels are at 240 parts per million, but that concentration stands at about 390 ppm today. And even if all emissions were to be shut off today, it would take the atmosphere another 1,000 years to return to natural CO2 levels. If it means more balmy Januarys like the one we in Toronto are currently enjoying... is it really all that bad? (Yes, probably.)