The Climate, Environment and Energy Thread

[Thryleon]

The science of climate change is enmeshed within the study past climatic fluctuations Thry.  What that tells us is that the climate is changing faster now than at any time in the past. 

And we’re not in an ice age now: Glacial = ice age, Interglacial = no ice age.

The geological time scale used Holocene to denote the current geological age.  It’s now called the Anthropocene to reflect the period during which human activity has been the dominant influence on climate and the environment.  The Holocene commenced at the end of the last ice age (or glacial period) about 10,000 years ago.  The Anthropocene’s commencement is being pushed back to around 15,000 years as it is argued that human impact on the environment and climate commenced during the last ice age.

Palynological studies suggest that Aboriginal burning practices changed the Australian environment and biodiversity tens of thousands of years before that.

The elephant in the room is the exponential growth of the human population as well as the mantra that economies must continue to grow.  We can reduce consumption and waste and minimise environmental impacts but we’ll continue on a path to oblivion as long as humanity continues to breed like rabbits.

I only disagree with one part of your post DJC, and that is that the evidence points to us still being in an Ice Age even though you might have stated we arent because even at a recent trivia night I attended the correct answer was that we are technically still in one, (my gut said that its true was a better trivia answer so we got the points on that one).


https://www.amnh.org/explore/ology/earth...ce-age-end

Ive read this up a few times, because I used to have a theory that we were on track with respect to natural cycles and the earth warming because I was sick of the climate debate, and the answers I found were to debunk that theory and keep reading and understand that we are actually having a bigger impact, and that has been thus far to stave off the next glacial period thanks to 100 years of warming which will either result in an over correction and flip to a massive ice age to fix it, or cause a lot of damage.  Thing is, it seems to point to the earth wobble, and bulge causing more change here than not.

Scientists are still working to understand what causes ice ages. One important factor is the amount of light Earth receives from the Sun. The amount of sunlight that reaches Earth can vary quite a lot, mainly due to three factors:

    how much Earth is tilted relative to the Sun
    whether Earth wobbles a lot or a little as it spins on its axis (kind of like how a toy top can wobble a lot or a little as it spins)
    the shape of Earth's orbit as it goes around the Sun (whether it is shaped more like a circle or more like an ellipse or oval)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ice_age

Glacials and interglacials
See also: Glacial period and Interglacial
Shows the pattern of temperature and ice volume changes associated with recent glacials and interglacials
Minimum and maximum glaciation
Minimum (interglacial, black) and maximum (glacial, grey) glaciation of the northern hemisphere
Minimum (interglacial, black) and maximum (glacial, grey) glaciation of the southern hemisphere

Within the current glaciation, more temperate and more severe periods have occurred. The colder periods are called glacial periods, the warmer periods interglacials, such as the Eemian Stage.[1] There is evidence that similar glacial cycles occurred in previous glaciations, including the Andean-Saharan[41] and the late Paleozoic ice house. The glacial cycles of the late Paleozoic ice house are likely responsible for the deposition of cyclothems.[42]

Glacials are characterized by cooler and drier climates over most of the earth and large land and sea ice masses extending outward from the poles. Mountain glaciers in otherwise unglaciated areas extend to lower elevations due to a lower snow line. Sea levels drop due to the removal of large volumes of water above sea level in the icecaps. There is evidence that ocean circulation patterns are disrupted by glaciations. The glacials and interglacials coincide with changes in orbital forcing of climate due to Milankovitch cycles, which are periodic changes in the Earth's orbit and the tilt of the Earth's rotational axis.

The earth has been in an interglacial period known as the Holocene for around 11,700 years,[43] and an article in Nature in 2004 argues that it might be most analogous to a previous interglacial that lasted 28,000 years.[44] Predicted changes in orbital forcing suggest that the next glacial period would begin at least 50,000 years from now. Moreover, anthropogenic forcing from increased greenhouse gases is estimated to potentially outweigh the orbital forcing of the Milankovitch cycles for hundreds of thousand of years.[45][5][4]

The variation of sunlight reaching Earth is one cause of ice ages.

Over thousands of years, the amount of sunshine reaching Earth changes by quite a lot, particularly in the northern latitudes, the area near and around the North Pole. When less sunlight reaches the northern latitudes, temperatures drop and more water freezes into ice, starting an ice age. When more sunlight reaches the northern latitudes, temperatures rise, ice sheets melt, and the ice age ends. But there are many other factors. So if you became a climate scientist one day, you could make your own discoveries!