Uh-oh. Global cool down coming.

Via Pete the Crab Whisperer, scientists researching the effect of sun spots on global temperatures are forecasting a global cooling – yet another phase that the Earth’s climate continually undergoes.

In particular, we see marine productivity cycles that match well with the sun’s 75-90-year “Gleissberg Cycle,” the 200-500-year “Suess Cycle” and the 1,100-1,500-year “Bond Cycle.” The strength of these cycles is seen to vary over time, fading in and out over the millennia. The variation in the sun’s brightness over these longer cycles may be many times greater in magnitude than that measured over the short Schwabe cycle and so are seen to impact marine productivity even more significantly.

Our finding of a direct correlation between variations in the brightness of the sun and earthly climate indicators (called “proxies”) is not unique. Hundreds of other studies, using proxies from tree rings in Russia’s Kola Peninsula to water levels of the Nile, show exactly the same thing: The sun appears to drive climate change.

Wow. Who would have thought that the Sun could heat and cool the Earth?!

Another interesting factoid from the article – your gas-guzzling SUVs were more damaging to the Earth 6,000 years ago.

The only constant about climate is change; it changes continually and, at times, quite rapidly. Many times in the past, temperatures were far higher than today, and occasionally, temperatures were colder. As recently as 6,000 years ago, it was about 3C warmer than now. Ten thousand years ago, while the world was coming out of the thou-sand-year-long “Younger Dryas” cold episode, temperatures rose as much as 6C in a decade — 100 times faster than the past century’s 0.6C warming that has so upset environmentalists.

I’m all for living in and leaving a cleaner world for our childrens’ children, but excuse me if I’m not buying whatever Al Gore is selling these days. (Except that internet thing – that… was… AWESOME!)