Little Ice Age on the Way – It’s all About the Sun!

Novels begin with ideas. The Black Sun novels began with the idea of writing a fictional account of the near future, based on the premise that much of what we think we know about our planet and human history is wrong, as are many of the scientific certainties that a large part of the science community insist are undisputed facts.

Of course, the great thing about being a novelist is that I don’t have to prove my ideas, I can just invent stories to fit them. Which is a bit like what some scientists do, now I come to think of it. Take climate scientists, for example; they don’t have to prove that co2 emissions from human activity are the cause of climate change, although they insist this is the case. They claim the cause and effect is proven, and show us lots of graphs using selectively chosen data to make their case. But guess what? Earth’s climate is driven by the sun! Nobody has a full grasp on exactly how it works, but the sunspot cycle has a lot to do with it. Right now we’re at the peak of the approximately eleven year cycle, which means there should be a lot of sunspots. There aren’t though. The sun is asleep. During a period known as the Maunder Minimum the sun was also asleep. It lasted from roughly 1645 to 1720 and during that time the planet cooled. That meant very cold winters and shorter growing seasons. The river Thames froze solid every year. They held frost fairs there. There were probably a lot of other things happening too, such as extreme weather events like we’re seeing today.

The Maunder Minimum is sometimes referred to as the Little Ice Age. Of course we don’t know as much about that event, or others that have occurred before, because there were no TV’s then, or internet, or even many books. Also, the further back in time you go, the less likely it is that there was much science going on because the church said everything was God’s will, period. If wasn’t a good idea to disagree. It’s funny how things go around though. Science is the new religion now, which is often a good thing, of course, though you still have to toe the party line, otherwise they get upset. They might start accusing you of being a climate change denier, and they can get hysterical about it. Now they’ve got everyone else doing it too. In New Zealand, where I live, most politicians are dismissive of anybody who suggests that climate science as it currently stands is simply wrong. At least publicly they are. Which is another way of saying the sun has nothing to do with climate. Brilliant. Here’s a link for a great short video on youtube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UuYTcnN7TQk&list=UUTiL1q9YbrVam5nP2xzFTWQ

The good news is that attitudes are changing. Even NASA is starting to admit that there might be some kind of ice age on the way, and it might even have something to do with the sun.

The Black Sun Novels are based on the premise that this has all happened before, and it happened for reasons that were once understood, though that knowledge was lost a long time ago. Everything happens in cycles. The Earth could change and it could happen very quickly. Wars could break out as society descends into chaos, until civilization completely collapses. It might not happen that way though. There could be people who know what is coming, and have been making preparations for a long time. Maybe that happened before too. Every ancient culture spoke of advanced gods and angels who brought knowledge. Today’s fiction – tomorrow’s reality.