One argument that I hear frequently by those trying to debunk global warming is that there is a natural solar warming cycle. In previous posts I have tried to show using graphs from the EU that climate changes are long term, measured in many thousands of years and that the spike in temperatures is a local phenomenon, which has no relationship with long term climate cycles. The spike is large enough to be significant. It is not a data blip, but it is too sudden and too extreme to be part of any normal climate change.
The article in the Guardian includes a summary of the debate. I think that the key quote is:
A spokesman for the Royal Society, the UK’s leading scientific academy, said: “This is an important contribution to the scientific debate on climate change. At present there is a small minority which is seeking to deliberately confuse the public on the causes of climate change. They are often misrepresenting the science, when the reality is that the evidence is getting stronger every day. We have reached a point where a failure to take action to reduce carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions would be irresponsible and dangerous.”
If you come across an article or a web page and it says that global warming is due to a natural solar cycle, just click the X in the upper right hand corner of your browser, because this is just bunk.
HOWEVER…
Unfortunately, evidence of solar warming is statistical and we all know about damned lies and statistics. Solar warming is not a proven fact and can’t be until it is too late. The evidence leans heavily that there is something going on, and there is some kind of link to increased carbon dioxide levels. There is much speculation as to how bad this might be. I certainly think that we should be concerned. Global warming is not discountable. I would rather be wrong about global warming than discover I am right after it has been deprecated for purely political reasons. I have a feeling that politicians who have been bought and paid for by those with vested interests in the energy sector will be telling us that global warming is bunk long after New York is under 40 feet of water and the great American Midwest is nothing but a desert.
There are numerous other reasons for cutting combustion emissions. These go beyond global warming and into the problems of acid rain, urban asthma, ozone layer erosion, and pollution related cancers, to name a few. Our dependence on imported oil is ruining our economy and that is another reason to support green technology. Even if global warming proves to be less of a problem than it potential could be, the are still many very good reasons for reducing our CO2 output.
New analysis counters claims that solar activity is linked to global warming