At the peak of the last ice age, which began 70,000 years ago, 97% of Canada was covered by ice.
The research showed that without the human contribution to global warming, Baffin Island would today be in a condition of "incipient glaciation".
"Portions of Labrador and Hudson Bay would also have moved very close to such a state had greenhouse gas concentrations followed natural trends," said the scientists.
The experiment had probably underestimated the amount of ice that would exist today in north-east Canada without human interference, they said.
Anthropologist Dr Benny Peiser, from Liverpool John Moores University, said: "If the research findings are correct, a radical change in the perception of anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions will be required.
"Instead of driving us to the brink of environmental disaster, human intervention and technology progress will be seen as vital activities that have unintentionally delayed the onset of a catastrophic ice age."
Can you imagine the scene if we hadn't burned all those fossil fuels?
CANADIAN #1: The ice looks a little closer today, eh?
CANADIAN #2: Aboot a foot or so.
No comments:
Post a Comment