Like most anyone, I certainly had a modicum of knowledge regarding the Ice Age.

Mammoths. Saber-tooth cats. Cold, cold, and more cold.

But the fact a series of seven ice ages has chilled the planet over the past 700,000 years escaped my attention somewhere along the line.

So, call me surprised when the "Seven Ice Ages" subject was bantered about in my social circles twice in the last week.

What is all the fascination with brrr and chill?

Many are disputing the premise of Davis Guggenheim's film "An Inconvenient Truth" where Al Gore effectively states that global warming can and must be reversed. Gore indisputably correlates CO2 emissions with exponentially rising temperatures, already responsible for dramatic climactic shifts like ice-cap melting, drought, and rising sea levels.

If the pace of pollution continues, Gore says, carbon-dioxide levels will be off the charts within decades.

A possible consequence is that melting glaciers could reroute ocean currents to bring a new ice age in Europe.

Ice Age Eight.

A global cooling event caused by global warming.

The Earth was emerging from an ice age 8,200 years ago. Seas were warming and life was heating up. Then quite abruptly and for a relatively short period of time -- about 100 years -- the entire globe chilled down again, by almost 10.8 degrees Fahrenheit (6 Centigrade).

One widely held theory for the chill was the sudden release of a substantial amount of fresh water into the northern Atlantic. A lake twice the size of the Caspian Sea broke through an ice sheet that contained it over current day Minnesota and Canada, the evidence shows. It poured its fresh water into the salty Atlantic and changed the density of the ocean water.

Cold, fresh water sinks, and warm salty water rises. The influx of fresh water into the Hudson Bay from Lake Agassiz provided a barrier against the warm, salty water struggling to move north on the conveyor belt. This effectively shut down the circulation of warm water in the Northern Atlantic.

With warm waters unable to move as far north the world became cooler.

The oceans were able to find their balance relatively quickly in that ancient event, and the effects wore off in about a century, but a century of that kind of change today would create widespread havoc.

"There is nothing like Lake Agassiz today, but there are things that could have a comparable effect," said Torbjorn E. Tornqvist, an geologist at the University of Illinois at Chicago. "Places like the Greenland ice sheet are very sensitive to warming and a lot of fresh water could enter the northern oceans and mess up circulation."(How Global Warming Can Chill the Planet, Sarah Davidson,December, 2004, Live Science).

Counterpoint.

Phil Brennan, journalist, writes in ""Global Warming or Globaloney" that the eighth ice age has less to do with man-induced global warming and more to do with the Climatological record. When CO2 records rise, an ice age inevitably follows. Brennan disputes Gore's claim that the rise in greenhouse gas is caused by pollution when in fact, 100,000 years ago, with no help from mankind, CO2 levels skyrocketed prior to the onset of Ice Age Seven.

Plain and simple. Ice Ages are the norm. The present interglacial period is ending, summers will be progressively shorter and cooler, and winters will get progressively longer and colder...thirty thousand years from now, The Big Chill will grip the planet in icy glory.(Does the Ice Age Cometh, Phil Brennan, Jan. 16, 2001).

Note regarding progressive cooling. Last winter proved mild. In fact, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) recently stated, "Nine of the 10 warmest years on record have occurred since 1995." (Conflicting Claims on Global Warming and Why It's All Moot, Robert Roy Britt, February 2006, Live Science).

Moot. Good word to describe the Global Warming Wars.

But just to be on the safe side.

Turn off the lights.

Recycle.

Drive an environmentally-friendly vehicle.

Better yet, take a walk or ride a bike.

Plant a tree.

Make a difference.