What were people up to, 10 000 years ago, to cause the massive global warming which ended the last ice age?

Question

O.K., you say, that was a natural phenomenon. So why can't today's global warming be just as natural? We little humans can't change the course of nature.

Answer 1

Today's, climate change is myth invented by certain, vested interests. Have you noticed how the original description 'global warming' has now evolved into 'climate change'? Could this be because many people might actually see some benefits in global warming? There are obviously nations that would like to have a warmer climate.
Of course, it does not suit the purposes of politicians, who see climate change as a very lucrative way of fleecing the taxpayer, for anyone to think a bit of global warming could actually be quite welcome, so they have to ensure that we are made to believe that everything about it will be negative, and that it is the greatest threat facing the world.

Have you ever had the feeling that we are being manipulated?

If there is global warming, as you say, it is more likely to be a natural phenomenon than manmade, and it is by no means certain that it will be disastrous, or even that the negative effects will outweigh the benefits.

Answer 2

Global climate has been controlled for the past 400,000 years (poss longer but the ice cores are difficult to get) by a combination of our orbit around the sun and the concentration. Look up Milankovich cycles on Wikipedia for the orbit stuff. As we enter in to a warming cycle (orbit closer to the sun) ice will melt, as ice melts the ground becomes darker, and absorbs more sunlight, and increases the melting. This is a positive feedback mechanism and there are many such mechanisms regulating the global climate. Carbon dioxide, water vapour, methane and other gases cause the greenhouse effect, without which the earth's surface will have a mean temperature of about -20deg Celsius and we wouldn't be here. These gases are stored in various reservoirs around the world such as Oceans, plant life and rocks. As the world warms some of the reservoirs release their carbon in the form of carbon dioxide - for example, the oceans can store more CO2 when they are colder - rocks store carbon for much longer periods of time in the form of hydrocarbons. So greenhouse gases in the atmosphere act as an amplifier to the sun's heat, so if the sun is getting warmer then we are in even bigger trouble. Also, the Carbon dioxide concentration in the atmosphere over the last 400,000 years has been between 200-280parts per billion and so this is the extent of the amplifier which has caused ice ages. (there are many ice ages in the record the last was ~10,000 yrs ago). In addition, the feedback mechanisms which put in or remove greenhouse gases from the atmosphere operate over hundreds and thousands of years and the temperature changes are gradual. We have increased the CO2 concentration to 374ppb in the past 200 years - a huge huge change and naff all geological time, so earth's feedback mechanisms are kicking in now and temperature will rise dramatically. It's is a very real, uncontrolled experiment we are performing on our planet. Previously, coming out of the ice age was natural and nothing to do with our cave dwelling ancestors, but this time warming is overwhelmingly due to our emissions.

Answer 3

The glacial advances and retreats of the last 1.8 million years fit in quite tidily with Milankovich cycles described by other answerers. The problem with the current increase, is that it doesn't very well. If anything, we should currently be getting cooler. It does, however, coincide quite nicely with the recent increase in carbon dioxide and other gasses.

The argument that because past climate change is by definition "natural" so all climate change must be, is spurious: In the past the only way large masses of earth moved from below ground to the surface was by uplift and erosion or volcanic activity. Therefore mining can't cause the same effect, because in the past it was natural.

The global climate will change again and again over the millennia; any changes we make or extinctions we cause will be mere blips in the scale of geological time. Unfortunately, we don't like in a blip, we live in human scale lifespans. If your house disappears in a tidal surge and your family drowns, you'll doubtless say "that's OK, this area was always going to be inundated one day in any case"!

Answer 4

Good question. As it turns out, there's a good answer.

There are three big causes of ice ages: first, the positions of continents on the surface of the earth. This has not changed in the last 10,000 years. Second, so-called Milankovich cycles, which are changes in the Earth's orbit around the Sun. These have changed in 10,000 years -- and in fact may be a major cause of the current interglacial period. But they haven't changed significantly in the last 100 years, even though that's when the current global warm-up began.

And third, the composition of the atmosphere. THIS HAS CHANGED significantly in the last century, and is therefore the prime suspect in the current episode of global warming. The amount of CO2 has gone up significantly during the past century, and this increase is due to human activity. Therefore, the current episode of global warming is a byproduct of human activity, and we humans should take steps to prevent any further damage to the only planet we've got.

Answer 5

Sure it has been cycling naturally for hundreds of millions of years but that doesn't mean that the present warming is natural. We little humans can change the course of nature - eg. we have cleared a third of the worlds land surface. More to the point we have pumped out a huge amount of greenhouse gases like CO2. The global carbon cycle is a fragile and complex, we have tilted it out of balance. Virtually every climatologist supports the fact that global warming is real and man-made (link). Do you not think that they might know what they are talking about? I'm not criticising, until I studied it, I used to be a skeptic too.

Answer 6

Humans have done little to increase a natural course of events.
Has anybody considered the time the Thames froze over?
Do some research of your own and you will find all these odd groups climbing on the band wagon of a natural occurance that may or may not be happening, depending on who is saying what and if they have a vested interest.
Find out how much the sea has risen in recent times?
Don`t believe all you are told.

Answer 7

When most people hear the words Ice Age, they think of glaciers covering much of North America and Eurasia, animals like mammoths and saber-toothed cats, and Cro-Magnon people painting cave walls. These things come to mind because the words "Ice Age" often refer to the last time that glaciers extended over a large portion of the Earth's surface. The ISM online exhibit The Midwestern U.S. 16,000 Years Ago provides more information on this glaciation in the Midwestern United States.

The amount of ice on the Earth's surface has varied greatly through time. For example, the extent of ice in North America has changed dramatically since the height of the last glacial advance 20,000 years ago.

During most of the last 1 billion years the earth had no permanent ice. However, sometimes large areas of the globe were covered with vast ice sheets. These times are known as ice ages. Illinois has experienced changes in rocks and fauna during these times. This Web module tells how some of these changes happened. Knowledge of the changes and their causes helps increase understanding about ancient rock formations and animals remains found in Illinois sites as evidenced in the Museum's specimen collections and site reports.

For example, the Online Exhibit The Midwest 16,000 Years Ago presents evidence that snowshoe hares are found today in the northern part of the midwest, yet 16,000 year old remains were found in Kentucky and Missouri, much farther south. If a type of animal lives in a certain type of climate now, we may infer that its ancestors lived in that type of climate, too. Does that mean that Kentucky and Missouri were once as cold as Wisconsin is today? What other evidence can we study to find out?

To begin to understand ice ages we must answer the following questions:

* What are Ice Ages?
* When did Ice Ages occur?
* Why do Ice Ages occur?

http://www.museum.state.il.us/exhibits/ice_ages/index.html

Answer 8

I believe (along with some scientists) that global warming is completely natural. Throughout history we have had cold and warm spells on earth. This can be proven by history. 3000 years ago people were living in settlements on Dartmoor in England. Now that ground is almost uninhabitable and only a handful of people live there as it is such a bleak and cold place. This I believe is proof enough that the current climate change that we are going through is just a "phase" that the earth is going through and in a few hundred years time it will stop heating and start to cool again. And so the cycle will go on.

Answer 9

I take it Steven Kennedy does not live in England.

"This can be proven by history. 3000 years ago people were living in settlements on Dartmoor in England. Now that ground is almost uninhabitable and only a handful of people live there as it is such a bleak and cold place." I suggest you check your facts on everything from 'Now' onwards.

There have been a number of Ice Ages and shiftings of the Earths axis over the millenia. Left to it's own devices the planet will maintain it's own eco-system and adjust. Mankind worries about global warming as it affects us as a species, I doubt the planet cares too much about mankind one way or another. If we don't blow her up she'll survive.

I

Answer 10

inhabitants advance is something that Doomsday enthusiasts have been speaking approximately for years. It became as quickly as believed that the Human inhabitants could no longer exceed 4 billion with the aid of fact there does no longer be adequate room on earth for each individual to stay and nonetheless be waiting to consume or maybe breath. at present the inhabitants is around the 6 billion mark and that i for you could nonetheless breath and there remains foodstuff. in certainty there is feilds that are being left fallow for the subsequent year or 2 so a greater physically powerful high quality of foodstuff would properly be produced. We as a spiecis have the means to think of and plan for destiny events. No different animal has that means or a minimum of to the quantity that we've. A squirle as an occasion isn't storing nuts with the aid of fact it knows iciness is coming and has to confirm it has adequate for the entire iciness, like a nut an afternoon. It shops foodstuff with the aid of fact that's programed into that's DNA and instincts. i've got recently examine comments, no longer via a single "scientist" yet ones that have been revealed via a great team that unquestionably particularly researched the region and got here up with the type that if we don't improve our modern-day foodstuff, housing and effortless scientific understanding, that the Human inhabitants can attain approximately 12 billion earlier we attain extreme issues. So it takes us approximately 10 years to strengthen via one billion and that's no longer counting the certainty that the worldwide inhabitants is particularly good heavy with the aid of fact of this there are alot greater previous human beings than youthful ones. easily there'll be issues that pop up, no person will see them coming and that they are going to be at last delt with. we can proceed to strengthen as a human beings and our inhabitants will strengthen besides.