Ymir makes his presence known. Here he takes his nourishment from his magic cow, which is itself busy licking from the ice the form of Bore, who would go on to father Buri. Buri in turn would father Odin, Ville, and Ve. Ville would go on to father the Slavic race, while Ve would become the progenitor of, probably (though I'm not sure) the Celts, Gauls, and maybe the Mediterraneans (ancient peoples of course only touched on what they knew well, so Africans and Asians probably didn't figure into the equation). As for Odin, he would go on to become the father of Gods and men, meaning of course he founded the Aesir-in human terminology, the Nordic and Germanic peoples.
But before going their separate ways, Odin and his brothers made war against Ymir and his progeny, the Frost Giants. They killed Ymir, and afterward constructed the earth and heavens out of his body and blood. His skull was used to form the earth.
This was the explanation for the predominance of snow and ice in the northern areas, and its extension during parts of the year throughout large parts of the earth.
Now "Ymir" is exerting his influence once more throughout the earth. He is dumping massive amounts of snow and sleet throughout the US and Canada, and where it is too warm, such as in most parts of California, massive amounts of rainfall will doubtless precipitate dangerous mud slides. Colorado might get mote than eight feet of snow, maybe up to fifteen feet in places. Soon, the current system will wind its way to the east coast. Nor is Europe immune from the spirit of the ancient Frost Giant. The Old World in fact is in the grip of its worst winter weather in years, necessitating the need to shut down airports throughout Britain, Ireland, and the mainland.
Finally, there is even some evidence, according to NASA, that we might well be in the beginning stages of another cyclical ice age.
As for the melting polar regions, that might possibly be the result of undersea activity. Even Charles Johnson now says man does not control the climate. This amounts to a real sea change in his attitude, but it is based on the very real possibility that the seas have actually been storing excess heat for years, and is now releasing it.
Global Climate Change? Global Warming? Yeah, sure. The ancients were wise enough to realize certain things are beyond the complete control of even the Gods. Man for damn sure can never control nor subjugate the awesome forces of nature. The best he can hope for is to adapt to it, and learn how best to make use of its majestic bounty.
In other words-
Drill, baby, drill. Dig, baby, dig. Yes, we need a comprehensive energy policy, at long last, one that does not punish the producers of traditional forms of energy, but in fact encourages and rewards their efforts, while at the same time clearing the regulatory burdens in such a way that other, alternative forms of energy might also be efficient, and, yes, (gasp) profitable.
A heaping helping of nuclear energy also couldn't hurt.
