Humanity versus the sun -- Global Cooling

May you live in interesting times.  We continue to pump out megatons
of CO2 -- enough to affect the pH of seawater and coming up on the
point where we start dissolving some shells.  We're also coming up on
(passed in some people's opinions) "peak oil" while our consumption
remains high and rising middle cl***** in India and China start
demanding their own powered vehicles.  Once the oil runs out, we'll
switch to coal and double or treble our CO2 output.

CO2 is a powerful greenhouse gas.

And in the other corner ...

The new sunspot cycle is late.  And just like when your girlfriend
says it, that could mean big issues.  According to a re****t I'm
reading, LENGTH of sunspot cycles relates to medium term climate
trends.  According to David Archibald, the upcoming solar sunspot
cycle is tracking on the pattern of cycles 16 to 23, the nineteenth
century pattern.

So we're insulating the planet with CO2 and the sun is setting up for
a cold decade and a half.  One of these trends will dominate our
weather.  

But hit us with TWO massive drivers, and you can expect weird weather.
Colder or warmer, drier or wetter.  Expect oddities.

His theory for the interaction between sunspots and Earth's weather
is:

Lower Magnetic Field ==> fewer sunspots ==> less solar wind ==>
==> More galactic cosmic rays penetrate into the solar system ==>
==> more low-level clouds ==> more reflected sunlight ==> colder.

It's an interesting paper to read.  It doesn't cancel my concern about
CO2, but it raises some im****tant issues.

He opens by superimposing our current interglacial cycle (Holocene)
onto the previous four interglacial periods.  In an aeon dominated by
ice ages, interglacial periods don't last very long.
http://www.warwickhughes.com/agri/Solar_Arch_NY_Mar2_08.pdf
-- 
Tomorrow is today already.
Greg Goss, 1989-01-27