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It would be folly not to recognize the role that the sun plays in earth's climate. It is the biggest driving force in climate and climate change. Most people tend to think of the sun as a steady beacon in the heavens but the sun is an active body and has its own seasons. The activity of the sun varies over time. This is usually seen in sun spot activity, the great solar explosions that send tons of material from the sun's surface into space.

Some scientists think that the global warming we are currently experiencing may be more due to the sun than to the emission of greenhouse gases. They do not, however suggest that we ignore the contribution of these gasses to global warming.

What we know is that the sun has actually been more active recently than in the last 300 years. This could be the cause of the recent increase in temperature. It could also mean that, should the sun reduce its activity, we could as easily go into a small ice age.

The brightness and energy output of the sun increases slightly with increased sunspot activity. This increase occurs in a roughly 11-year cycle. The strength of these increases varies from cycle to cycle.

This may suggest that it is sunspot activity more than greenhouse gasses that are causing the rise in global temperatures. They also claim that most of the current rise in temperature occurred prior to 1940, when greenhouse emissions were much lower.

This certainly is not a green light to continue to pollute our atmosphere. There are plenty of other negative consequences of burning fossil fuels and emitting other greenhouse gases.

Learn more about this author, Bob Trowbridge.
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