From Ronald Stott
Kooyong, Victoria, Australia
Fred Grisley is right in saying an ice age could start any time—any
time in the next few thousand years, that is
(Letters, 10 January, p 49).
It will be coincidence indeed if its timing just happens to match the few
decades we are taking to dump into the atmosphere all the fossil carbon
accumulated over a million years. More probably, the ice will not arrive until
all fossil fuels are spent and natural processes have converted the resulting
carbon dioxide into carbonates—useless to our freezing descendants.
But do not despair! By then, greenhouse-induced climatic catastrophe may have
so reduced our numbers that there will be enough caves to go round.
Advertisement
