[Texas Eagle]

Earth's last Glacial Maximum period began around 33,000 years ago,

Earth's LAST Glacial Maximum???

You mean there's been more than one? What happened in between?

[BenLurkin]

[Gen.Blather]

” What happened in between? “

We happened in between. All of civilization has happened in an odd portion of temperate weather. For the most part, Earth has been covered with ice. Wait until the current ice age, which we are still technically in, resumes. Then all of us will be required to burn a barrel of oil per day.

[PIF]

At one point hundreds of millions of years ago the entire Earth was covered with ice - known as the Snowball Earth. The Earth goes through periods of glaciation and periods of warmth - according to many we are now entering a cold period, and eventually glaciers will form once again and then melt as the Earth warms once again and so on

[Bernard Marx]

According to my geological research there have been as many as 50 glacial maxima over the past millions of years. Several of the more "recent" ones have been named, and ice core research has revealed some interesting data about them. Like the fact that CO2 levels were considerably higher than present at some points and global temperatures were moderate, cooler than now.

Each maximum has been followed by an "interglacial" warm period like the one we've experienced for the past 13K years or so. It seems hard for humans to grasp the concept of deep time. We're just newcomers to this very old Earth.