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Unlike 16,000 years ago, the majority of the Earth's surface is not covered with glacial ice. The most commonly known glaciers still exist in Artic locations like Antartica and Alaska, but you can find these ice giants on just about every continent, including South America and Africa. They cover about 12% of the Earth's surface (Williams, Richard S.), and it is estimated that the world has over 160,000 glaciers, 100,000 of which are in Alaska. If world's glaciers were to melt, sea level would rise 70 feet. That would be anough to envelop the majority of our coastal cities and plains.
Currently, there is a lot of attention addressing the condition of the Earth's glaicers, which, at this point in time are in an unprecedented state of retreat. This situation is due to a very large and widely publicized issue: Global Warming.