Michael D. Lemonick: Probing The Role of the Sun in an Era of Global Warming!

Though some skeptics have suggested that the real culprit behind rising temperatures is increased solar activity, a wide variety of data and experiments still provide no solid evidence to refute the scientific consensus that greenhouse gas emissions are the major reason why our planet is heating up. Anyone who has doubts that the sun has a profound impact on climate just hasn't been paying attention! A mere change in the sun angle from January to July means the difference between cold winters and hot summers in New Jersey. If the Earth were traveling through the darkness of space alone, we would not have a climate to begin with, and our planet would be frozen solid. One way or another, the Sun is the ultimate source of most of the energy on Earth. That being the case, critics of the idea that global warming is caused by greenhouse gases have suggested that the real culprit is a changing Sun. If they are right, the clamor to reduce emissions would be a waste of time and resources, and while climate scientists are reasonably certain that the problem really is greenhouse gases, they can't just ignore alternate explanations. To be sure, the greenhouse gas story doesn't just come out of nowhere. Scientists have had definitive laboratory proof since the 1800's that gases like CO2 trap heat. They know that greenhouse gases are implicated in episodes of climate change going back millions of years. They know that carbon dioxide from the burning of fossil fuels has been building up in the atmosphere since the industrial revolution began. They've seen the temperature rising, glaciers melting, weather patterns changing. They don't know all the details, but the story seems to hang together fairly well, but that doesn't mean you aren't missing something. The late physicist Richard Feynman once said: "The first principle of science is that you must not fool yourself, and you are the easiest person to fool."