I knew we were having a cold winter in Oregon, but I never expected it to be a foreshadowing of things to come. There's too much talk of global warming to have a cold snap be anything but an aberration, right? Here's a climate newsflash for you. According to MosNews.com, a Russian Academy of Sciences’ astronomical observatory’s report is warning the world of the eminent dangers of impending Global Cooling. How's that for the road less travelled? Russian scientists, including Khabibullo Abdusamatov, the head of the space research sector, have drawn conclusions, based on researching solar emissions, that the Earth has reached the maximum of her temperature range, and thermometers worldwide are going to start reflecting sharply declining temperatures within the next fifty years, possibly as early as 2012. They expect this to precede another warming trend to come in the 22nd century.
This is quite a change from the predictions we are used to hearing these days about killer heat waves and the melting of the polar ice caps. Indeed, Abdusamatov and his colleagues are much more concerned that we are facing glaciation. MosNews reports that the extra cold climate of 17th century brought frozen canals to the Netherlands and made Greenland uninhabitable, and Abdusamatov said we could be facing similar conditions soon:
He said he believed the future climate change would have very serious consequences and that authorities should start preparing for them today because “climate cooling is connected with changing temperatures, especially for northern countries.”The Russian scientists recommend that efforts at greenhouse gas limitation, like the Kyoto protocols, be put on hold for a century or two. It reminds me of the slightly futuristic science fiction book I recommended a few weeks ago, Fallen Angels by Larry Niven, Jerry Pournelle & Michael Flynn (available--for free--online through the link), about how all those greenhouse gases everyone was blaming for causing global warming were the only thing holding off an oncoming ice age, and once they were eliminated, the ice age descended with authority. If these Russian scientists are right, maybe Fallen Angels is a little heavier on the science than the fiction.
Hat tip: Roger Simon at Pajamas Media
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