OPINION:
It’s not surprising that prominent members of the “me” generation who think the universe revolves around themselves also believe they hold sway over Earth’s climate. New science is dispelling their delusion and confirming that Mother Nature still is in control of the environment.
It turns out the sun’s cosmic rays play a commanding role in atmospheric cloud formation and thus surface temperatures. This is according to research in the Aug. 25 edition of the journal Nature by scientists at the prestigious CERN particle physics laboratory in Geneva, Switzerland. In a CLOUD (Cosmics Leaving Outdoor Droplets) experiment, specialists fired a beam of energy from the lab’s Proton Synchrotron accelerator into a chamber filled with gases that approximated the composition of the Earth’s atmosphere. As the beam ionized chemicals in the gases, it produced aerosols, which in nature act as seeds for cloud formation.
The findings are a strong indication that cosmic rays striking the planet have a similar effect on atmospheric chemicals and stimulate the creation of clouds. It follows that spikes in the intensity of the sun’s cosmic rays stimulate the growth of more cloud seeds, resulting in more widespread cloud cover and a cooling effect at ground level.
For dogmatists who believe humans are heating the earth by allowing so-called “greenhouse gases” to billow into the atmosphere, countervailing evidence indicating the sun plays a primary role in climate change is a faith-shaker. This is akin to saying “God is dead” to Al Gore and his fellow believers who insist their junk science is “settled” and no do-overs are allowed.
The green utopians’ latest setback contributes to a growing backlash against the astronomical cost in dollars and jobs of restricting carbon-dioxide emissions worldwide on the basis of a dodgy theory. Before summer recess, a Republican-controlled House appropriations subcommittee approved a measure that would nix $13.5 million for fiscal 2012 that President Obama sought for two United Nations programs: the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, whose 2007 warning of impending cataclysm largely triggered the climate-change scare; and the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change, which is scheming to wheedle $76 trillion out of developed countries over the next 40 years to finance a green revolution in the Third World.
Resistance to warmism is also showing up overseas. Last week, Great Britain’s transport secretary repudiated a plan that would force the UK to curtail air travel starting in 2050 if it fails to reduce emissions by 80 percent of its 1990 levels. In Germany, a climate-change bill backed by Chancellor Angela Merkel has been tabled that would have enforced similar emissions reductions. Germany’s move away from nuclear power in the wake of Japan’s reactor disaster this spring has stymied its green commitment since neither coal plants nor wind turbines can provide sufficient clean energy.
Global warming beliefs die hard. Fortunately, cooler heads are beginning to see the light that points to the sun as the controlling factor for world temperatures.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.