[Sean C]

Originally Posted by August

I still say that human caused global warming, if it exists, is the only thing that could possibly be staving off the next ice age. Without all those factories and power plants and automobiles that brought us up to our present quality of life we would be under miles of ice by now.

You may be right about that. Wikipedia on Milankovitch cycles:

Originally Posted by Wikipedia

The current trend of decreasing [axial] tilt, by itself, will promote milder seasons (warmer winters and colder summers), as well as an overall cooling trend. Because most of the planet's snow and ice lies at high latitude, decreasing tilt may encourage the termination of an interglacial period and the onset of a glacial period for two reasons: 1) there is less overall summer insolation, and, 2) there is less insolation at higher latitudes (which melts less of the previous winter's snow and ice).