evidence: But it's worth noting that Earth has been in an ice age for about 3 million years, while modern humans have only been around for about 200,000. It's also worth noting that most people don't really mean ice age when they say "ice age." The current ice age is one of at least five in Earth's history. Each ice age is punctuated by shorter cycles of relatively warm weather when glaciers retreat (interglacial periods) and cold cycles when glaciers advance (glacial periods). Sometimes people refer to these glacial periods as "ice ages," which can be confusing. The current interglacial — which includes the Little Ice Age, aka Maunder minimum — began about 11,000 years ago. Research suggests it may last another 50,000 years. Even if the predicted drop in solar activity does significantly affect Earth's climate, no one is saying it would usher in a new glacial period. At most, a "mini ice age" would likely resemble the Little Ice Age of 1645, which didn't involve globally advancing glaciers but did involve local glaciation as well as agricultural hardship for Northern Europe. Still, there's ample reason to doubt even this milder outcome. 2.