The Earth is in a protracted ice age, and average global temperatures are around 15°C, still far lower than the long-term historical average of 18°C to 26°C. The world is just too cold to be facing a crisis of global warming. Polar ice sheets are almost entirely isolated from warmer tropical waters, and any significant glacial ice loss is likely to last thousands of years, potentially raising sea levels by only a few millimeters a year. Any protracted warming or carbon dioxide rise is more likely to benefit plant growth, improved living conditions, and higher food production. This has already been identified in NASA satellite studies. Predicted extreme temperature rise scenarios—such as warming reaching up to 5°C by 2050—have been increasingly set aside in recent years by climate modeling cohorts and United Nations assessments as support fades for extreme high-emissions scenarios in favor of more realistic baselines. The evidence of our ice age world is sitting there like a sudden winter snowdrift. Ten percent of the world's land area is still under glacial ice, which covers 15 million square kilometers (5.8 million square miles)—roughly a third of its peak extent during the Last Glacial Maximum (26,000 to 19,000 years ago). The Antarctic ice sheet is the largest and thickest ice formation on Earth, reaching up to 4.8 kilometers (about 3 miles) deep. It holds 90% of the world's ice by volume and accounts for around 85% of total global glacial ice cover, spanning roughly 14 million square kilometers (5.4 million square miles)—8.3% of the world's land surface. The Late Cenozoic Ice Age has not ended, having lasted for 34 million years, triggered by the glaciation of Antarctica, orbital anomalies (Milankovitch cycles), and tectonic shifts that isolated the Antarctic continent as Australia and South America drifted northward. Human civilisation has risen almost entirely during the benevolently warm Holocene interglacial period, which has lasted for 11,700 years. The alternating cycles of glacial and interglacial periods have been taking place continually for 2.58 million years. These are very long-standing geological cycles, driven by orbital shifts (known as Milankovitch cycles). However, the oceans are the Earth's greatest and most abundant physical feature visible from space. Oceans cover three quarters (72%) of the globe to an average depth of 2.3 miles, while forests cover 31% and deserts 33%. Most of the rest of the world is still wilderness. Furthermore, the oceans contain 86% of the surface carbon reservoir and 91% of all retained heat energy; by contrast, the atmosphere holds a mere 1 to 2% of each. For four decades, public debate has been dominated by fear and guilt, centered on claims of a looming climate crisis caused by us. The UN has led this campaign, which is unrelated to its mandated purpose of resolving international conflicts. Much of the scientific basis for the campaign was based on worst-case computer model scenarios and forecasts of soaring world temperatures. The intensity of this campaign has progressively been diminishing.