This letter is in response to various articles on global warming. My theory is that the Earth’s wobble is responsible for the greatest climate shifts.

It takes 26,000 years to make one complete wobble, and 13,000 years to go from opposite points. It was 13,000 years ago that the glaciers began to recede, and the climate cycled into a new warming period, referred to as an interglacial, which has lasted for 10,000 years now. We are physically on the opposite point of the wobble and as a result experiencing relatively mild winters while the ice sheets have long since melted away.

Ocean currents should not be underestimated, of course, for their effect on climate. A disruption in the flow of warm currents to the northern hemisphere could be awful. Ocean currents, however, may be inconsequential compared to the effects of the Earth’s wobble on extreme climate change because of the altered angle of the sun’s rays striking the Earth.

It is a fact that the Earth’s tilt is responsible for the seasons, which represents a dramatic shift in temperature between winter and summer. There’s some evidence for my theory that the Earth’s wobble is primarily responsible for its glacial/interglacial condition. If true, the good news is that we still have about 10,000 years before the planet begins cycling back into a glacial period near and at the opposite point of its wobble.

That’s where humans are living with giant ice sheets — if living is indeed the proper word.

Terry E. Libby, Skowhegan

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