Last month, Oleg Sorokhtin, a fellow of the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences, shrugged off manmade climate change as "a drop in the bucket." Showing that solar activity has entered an inactive phase, Prof. Sorokhtin advised people to "stock up on fur coats."

He is not alone. Kenneth Tapping of our own National Research Council, who oversees a giant radio telescope focused on the sun, is convinced we are in for a long period of severely cold weather if sunspot activity does not pick up soon.

The last time the sun was this inactive, Earth suffered the Little Ice Age that lasted about five centuries and ended in 1850. Crops failed through killer frosts and drought. Famine, plague and war were widespread. Harbours froze, so did rivers, and trade ceased.


Forget global warming: Welcome to the new Ice Age
http://www.nationalpost.com/opinion/columnists/story.html?id=332289

World Bank accused of climate change "hijack"

- Developing countries and environmental groups accused the World Bank on Friday of trying to seize control of the billions of dollars of aid that will be used to tackle climate change in the next four decades...

http://www.reuters.com/article/envi...nmentNews&rpc=22&sp=true


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And some other worthy news items...


Global temperatures 'to decrease'
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7329799.stm

Lloyd's warns of a lack of natural disasters
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2008/apr/04/insurance.insurance

When you understand the "big picture", that concept is not only believable, it is likely.