# A New Ice Age Was Beginning. Then Humans Started Burning Fossil Fuels

- URL: https://talkfuse.com/story/a-new-ice-age-was-beginning-then-humans-started-burning-fossil-fuels/
- Published: 2026-10-22T18:00:00+00:00
- Updated: 2026-10-22T18:30:52+00:00
- Original publisher: Wired
- Original article: https://www.wired.com/story/ice-age-beginning-then-humans-started-burning-fossil-fuels/
- Topics: Art, Celebrity, Climate, Culture, Entertainment, Science

## Key points

- The Barnes Ice Cap grew for about 2,000 years before retreating.
- Its edges have retreated an average of four metres a year since the 1980s.
- The reversal coincides with rising emissions and human-caused warming.

## Summary

Researchers found that the Barnes Ice Cap on Canada’s Baffin Island began growing again about 2,000 years ago, potentially signalling the start of another glaciation period. Since the 1960s, however, it has shrunk as carbon emissions have risen, showing how human-caused warming has reversed a long period of ice growth.

The team dated exposed rocks using beryllium-10 and examined preserved moss and lichen to reconstruct the ice cap’s history. Their findings suggest it reached its modern size around 3,600 years ago; since the 1980s, its edges have retreated by an average of four metres a year. Researchers say further comparisons with other sites could clarify how the planet’s natural climate cycles were developing before human warming.

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Summarised by TalkFuse (https://talkfuse.com/). Quote the original publisher for the reporting and link this page for the summary and discussion.