“Because we have too much …”

If there is ever an example of the saying “Don’t confuse me with facts, my mind is made up”, it is global warming – and the belief our behavior causes it.

Real world scientific evidence shows that the temperature on earth is actually about the same now as in 1988, despite the increase in carbon dioxide emissions from developing nations and the rest of the world. I wish I could include an illustration in this blog of a graph that demonstrates this dramatically; however the graph is on the Daily Tech website for those who want to see it.

The graph and accompanying report show that not only is current world temperature essentially the same as in 1988, but after peaking in 1998, the temperature decreased abruptly and significantly between January 2007 and January 2008 – a decrease of 6.2%. Imagine, in one year alone the average temperature declined over 6% and dropped still more from the 1998 peak – about 10% - yet global warming acolytes want us to believe that we are causing climate change.

The total amount of cooling ranges from 0.65C up to 0.75C -- a value large enough to wipe out most of the warming recorded over the past 100 years. All in one year's time; it's the single fastest temperature change ever recorded, either up or down.

In some respects it would be good if we have global warming rather than global cooling; historically, the warm periods such as the Medieval Climate Optimum were beneficial for civilization. Corresponding cooling periods such as the Little Ice Age were always bad news.

Evidence is mounting that climate change on earth is due to the sun and the presence or absence of sun spots. Historically the number of sun spots increase and decrease in cycles from many to none. However we are now in a prolonged period without any spots and as a result scientists believe we are going through a period of global cooling. Global cooling is what eventually led to the “little ice age” and very likely to longer significant ice ages of the past.

In fact some scientists are very concerned about this possibility. Dr. Kenneth Tapping is worried about the sun. “Solar activity comes in regular cycles, but the latest one is refusing to start. Sunspots have all but vanished, and activity is suspiciously quiet. The last time this happened was 400 years ago -- and it signaled a solar event known as a ‘Maunder Minimum,’ along with the start of what we now call the ‘Little Ice Age.’”

Dr. Tapping has impressive credentials; he is a solar researcher and project director for Canada's National Research Council and oversees a giant radio telescope; he says “if the pattern doesn't change quickly, the earth is in for some very chilly weather.”

During the Little Ice Age, after temperatures fell remarkably, New York harbor froze solid and hard enough to permit people to walk from borough to borough – Manhattan to Staten Island. In Norway glaciers grew 100 meters a year and destroyed farms and villages.

Russians who experience mighty cold winters pay close attention to possibilities of global cooling. Russian astronomer Khabibullo Abdusamatov predicted in 2005 the sun would soon peak and would initiate a rapid decline in world temperatures. Recently Dr. Oleg Sorokhtin, a fellow of the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences, also said much the same thing and advised the world “to stock up on fur coats.” Sorokhtin, says man's contribution to climate change is "a drop in the bucket," and predicts the solar minimum to occur by the year 2040, with icy weather lasting untill 2100 or beyond – so much for global warming.

Dr. Timothy Patterson, director of the Geoscience Center at Carleton University, is also concerned about global cooling. Patterson says he found "excellent correlations" between solar fluctuations; a relationship that historically, he says doesn't exist between CO2 and past climate changes. According to Patterson we shouldn't be surprised by a solar link. "The sun [is] the ultimate source of energy on this planet.”

A belief that the sun is mainly responsible for climate changes on earth goes back to 1991, at least. At that time the Danish Meteorological Institute released a study showing that world temperatures over the past several centuries correlated very closely with solar cycles. The prestigious Max Planck Institute released a study in 2004 which reported finding a similar correlation, but concluded the timing was only coincidental, as the solar variance seemed too small to explain temperature changes. Nonetheless, what they considered “too small” is the same amount of change alleged by global warming proponents to conclude climate change caused by human behavior is producing “global warming.”

Continued work at DMI discovered what they believe to be the link between temperature change and the sun. They say "... a key factor is change in the sun's magnetosphere - a stronger field shields the earth more from cosmic rays, which act as 'seeds' for cloud formation. The result is less cloud cover, and a warming planet. When the field weakens, clouds increases, reflecting more light back to space, and the earth cools off." The sun’s magnetosphere is driven by sun spots; the presence and number of which affect cosmic ray intensity.

This correlation has been additionally reported by Henrik Svensmark, lead researcher at the Danish National Space Center who confirms the link between cosmic rays and cloud formation by experiments in a cloud chamber called "SKY" at the Center.

Even the evangelical preacher of global warming, Drew Shindell, a researcher at NASA’s Goddard Institute of Space, has expressed some concern that the theories used to support the human involvement with global warming may be doubted; Swindell says there are some "interesting relationships we don't fully understand" between solar activity and climate.

Of course to those global warming proponents the facts do not interfere with their sermons; which leads one to believe that a concern for the planet is not the basis for insistence on changing the United States and how Americans live. They have a different and more ominous agenda; taking down our country to the level of less successful societies because “we have too much.”