“The last time the sun was this quiet, Earth experienced an ice age”
In name only. Wasn’t there also some large volcanic eruptions contributing to the cooling?
Volcanic activity likely made it worse.
Ice ages - i.e., continental glaciations are cyclic. They seem to correlate best with solar activity.
I knew a prof who was trying to show that volcanic activity was cyclic. I don’t think he ever succeeded.
There are many factors that contribute to glaciation occurring and their severity some of them we think we, some we guess and I am sure there are some others we haven’t a clue about yet.
Variation in cosmic ray showers due to where we are on the galactic rim also contribute.