it's cold out in canada, right now.

i need to be careful in how i articulate this, because there's a lot of scientifically illiterate people on the soft left that want to understand science as an article of faith, and react to anybody challenging what they've been taught as heretics. so, if i point out that there isn't actually any evidence that a specific trait is heritable, and there is rather quite a bit of evidence that it mostly isn't, i get this uproar around contradicting vague statements like "scientists think that...". at least i haven't been called a lamarckian, yet (and that would be a misunderstanding of my claim, to be clear, although it would at least be a refreshingly literate smear). and, if i point out that the climate system is a complicated and chaotic thing with multiple causes, these people want to nail me to a cross.

when it's cold, it's climate change. when it's warm, it's climate change. and, when it's exactly seasonal, it's climate change, too.

right.

one of the stories i've been following on this page is the idea that there is actually a force operating in the northern hemisphere right now to locally counteract the effects of climate change, namely a solar minimum. now, this isn't some crazy theory, although the way it's often presented in the soft-left media would make it seem as though it is. the sun fluctuates in strength, and this has had a measurable impact on our climate, going back many centuries. this is well studied. it's mainstream science.

and, it is well understood that we're currently in a period of very weak solar output. i'm not going to jump on any bandwagons - we don't know what's going to happen next. but, if the sun stays weak like this, the white people of the northern latitudes are in for yet another beneficial fluke of geography, as we end up shielded from the worst effects of this, while the rest of the planet burns.

now, it's also well understood that this won't reverse climate change, in the sense of climate change being a long term increase in the mean temperature of the earth (which, itself, is not being measured geometrically, and probably should be to be really meaningful). the sun would have to turn into a black hole for that. we are still venus bound, as we choke ourselves to death in the sauna. but, so long as the earth remains on a tilt, if we remain exposed to decreasing solar energy in the north then we are going to suffer the consequences of the expanding north winds. i keep pointing this out, and you have to remember it: we cheat an ice age every 12 months on this planet, as we wobble dangerously far from the sun on our busted-up axis.

there is some evidence that the sun may be waking back up again, and we could see an early spring because of it.

but, if that doesn't happen, and the cold reality is that most solar scientists think it won't, then we could be in for a very nasty season, here.

but, do not lull yourself into a false sense of security: it will probably be very hot in india. and, should the sun wake back up, we could be looking at a very fast and very permanent reversal.

i've often wondered, though. we don't know what controls the sun, and the idea that it operates in some kind of entanglement is not particularly exotic, anymore. we seem to be increasing the heat on our little planet, in our little system, in our distant galaxy. what if we're a part of a living system, and that system has other ideas?

don't pretend you can debunk that. you can't.