Lights, Camera, Action…

A long time ago in a far away cave an ancient prophet stored away for future man the most important wisdom of the ages. He scratched on the surface of an emerald tablet the hidden truths of our world. The most important of all read “As above so below”. link Hermes is talking about the magical properties of water and how the sun and moon affect life on earth in ways we currently are just rediscovering. I just cannot take my eyes of this elephant in the room and while my personal habits have caused this elephant to appear pink from time to time it nevertheless is real.

Or sun has been providing light for around for 3 billion years. It will shine for another 5 billion years and as such is a relatively long lived star. The average star in the heavens will burn out at or around the current age of our sun. During its reign as our savior the sun has produced vast amounts of energy daily some of which was stored away in fossil fuels many years ago. Energy from the sun is not only provided in the visible spectrum as light we see. Turbulent magnetic storms on the sun cause unseen solar radiation to be violently expelled from the sun some of which strike the earth causing electrical disturbances and causing the auroras. The suns strong magnetic fields influence the earth’s and other planets fields and conversely the planetary magnetic fields affect the suns. Magnetic disturbances on the sun are referred to as sunspots as the magnetism pulls away the surface exposing darker regions of the cooler interior. Typically the size of the earth, sunspots can have a dramatic affect on climate here on earth. There is a cycle of frequency of sunspots that has been observed which sees spots increase in number and then decrease. This cycle of sunspot activity is rhythmic and completes in approximately 11 years. This 11 year cycle corresponds closely with the orbit of Jupiter the strongest force, but is not exact; pointing to the likelihood the cycle is caused by all the magnetic planets acting on the sun and possibility magnetic forces outside the solar system.

Currently we are in a period of low sunspot numbers and we should expect an increase in sunspots to begin soon. Actually we should have seen an increase sooner. This cycle of sunspot activity has been unusually low for longer than average. Link So what effect would sunspots or the lack thereof have on earth and its inhabitants? It turns out sunspots have a dramatic effect on our climate. As sunspot activity increases, the shortwave radiation (blue waves) emitted by the sun increases. Oxygen and nitrogen in the atmosphere absorb these blue waves making the sky blue and increasing the earth’s temperature. The earth tries to cool itself by long wave radiation (red waves) emitting them back to space. The constituents of our atmosphere affect how fast the earth can radiate heat back into space using red waves to keep an even temperature balance . Co2 in the atmosphere blocks the red waves and thus more co2 affects the earth’s ability to cool off. This is classic global warming. During a low sunspot period the shortwave radiation emitted by the sun decreases and there is less heat buildup to radiate back to space. During this time the earth will gradually cool as it slowly emits more radiation than it absorbs. Co2 affects the rate of cooling however the cause of heating and cooling is the cycle of sunspots.

In 1645 there was a dramatic cooling that began and was correlated with low sunspot activity. Called the Maunder Minimum, this time saw global temperatures drop causing bitterly cold winters and disappointingly cool summers. Link Recorded climate change and sunspot activity has correlated since records began. Did you know Niagara Falls froze solid in 1911? Would an experienced sea captain steam full ahead if he thought there was any chance of hitting an iceberg? Link Unfortunately for us we are so concerned about global warming we have failed to recognize the important part the sun plays in our climate. Sunspot activity has dropped to the lowest levels since 1933 a correlation with the great depression that makes one wonder and the trend looks as if it may well continue. If it does our planet will begin to cool and we will find ourselves desperate to increase co2 emissions as a mitigating factor. Heresy you say! Yes. I agree because the only mitigating factor we have left is dirty coal.

Our political systems are lacking any credibility at this point. Corruption is rampant and corporations rule us whether we accept the truth or not. Elected persons play the crowds with help from corporate media and while there are genuine leaders wanting and willing to act for the greater good they are sideswiped by global powers. This corruption has spread to academia as well and with the promise of grants, funding and appointments our scientists have become untrustworthy. On top of all this is the fragmentary approach to problem solving, identifying only part of the equation and then trying to solve the whole and representing agendas instead of truths. Could it be this is all a test? Is there some cosmic lens watching us in amusement as we all jump from the kettle to the fire? I wonder. So here we are facing another crisis to solve and the only short term solution, agenda in toe, is to burn more carbon than ever before. Coal reserves will not last 200 years. The commonly quoted reserves are based on maintaining current burn rates and if we are to increase coal burning we must reduce the years we can burn it. An increase of co2 to decrease the effects of a sustained global cooling would require atmospheric concentrations 50% -100% higher yet. Thankfully there are as many tones of usable coal as there are AIG derivatives. Replacing oil and gas shortages and increasing co2 emissions 10% all by burning coal we could meet this goal and have reserves to last 40 years. Not a sustainable future but plenty of time for our leaders to engineer a more practical solution and to devise ways to remove the co2 from the atmosphere before the sunspots return. Not likely I know but in 40 years it’s not our problem. The resultant mercury and arsenic pollution (something we seem to be accustomed to now) will cause crop failures and mental abnormalities that will increase over time and at some point the empire must take notice but again the gradual nature will seem oddly natural. Finally building materials and even sunscreen will have to be modified to include alkaloid compounds to protect against acid rain and a leisurely afternoon walk in the park will include the obligatory detox when arriving back home.

This is all too surreal. At what point do we stop. Cosmic cycles, some longer and some shorter, drive earth changes. These forces are beyond any human capability to affect and perhaps even understand. We must learn to adapt to our world and not to try and conquer it. We are in fact actors not directors and our politicians are just extras called in to fill a role, and if you think Steven hawking has any credibility then you may be surprised to know he thinks we may just be shadows of reality like the images on a cosmic movie screen. Link So if this is just all a crash and burn movie then why should we bother endure the ever-increasing pitfalls and perils facing us in a seemingly staged event? A cosmic thriller whose reality is in question. What revelation could possibility make this drama all worthwhile? …the credits.