In Search Of... Season 2 # 23, THE COMING ICE AGE

 In 1977 the worst winter in a century struck the United States. Arctic cold ripped the Mid-West for weeks on end. Climate experts believe the next Ice Age is on its way. According to recent evidence it could come sooner than anyone had expected.

Of the nine planets in our solar system only the earth has conditions favorable to human life. Our existence depends on a delicate balance of climate. Despite our modern technology we are vulnerable to the winds and weather of our environment. Uncontrollable tempests make us aware how fragile life on earth really is. Only of the last 10,000 years has earth enjoyed continuing warmth. Because of this our population has exploded to over 5 billion people. For the last billions of years whole continents were buried by ice. If the ice spreads over the continent again, it is in Northern Canada, Bathan Island, in the Canadian arctic that the mysterious process will begin. We look to this lonely outpost for warnings of a new Ice Age.

Over the last thirty years average temperatures have dropped dramatically. The decent to Ice Age temperatures could take less than 200 years. Samples taken from the deep sea reveal that there have been eight ice ages in the last 700 000 years. The chores do not only show our history, but can predict that another Ice Age is coming soon.