Now, this is a post that will in all likelihood get me into a bit of hot water, however to anyone reading this, please don’t judge it's just an observation!

Before I begin I would like to state that I am NOT a scientist, nor an expert on climate or climate change for that matter. I am a merely a writer and more importantly, a reader. I am however fortunate to have the luxury of time, which means I am able to devour the written word across a myriad of mediums from scientific journals to banal and hysterical posts published on the likes of beBee and other like-minded sites.

I, like millions of others, are drawn to articles that tell us that, ‘ 2018 Was The Hottest Year On Record!” “ The Polar Ice Caps Are Melting!”  "Sea levels Are Rising! “ blah, blah, blah, etc. etc. etc.

Over the past few months while editing a novel I veered away from the boredom of correcting my own grammar and punctuation to delve into the mystery of climate change and how it's affecting our day-to-day lives; It was to Frederick William Herschel, (1738 –1822) I turned and his remarkable research into sunspots. Oh, he also ‘discovered ‘ Uranus so I guess he was a pretty good astronomer.

What I found was quite startling!

Now, I have to ask the question as to why we are all buying into the concept of global warming? To find out, I gave Al Gore’s little PowerPoint presentation, ‘ An Inconvenient Truth,’ another viewing and found his theories to be full of some pretty mighty holes. Let’s start with co2 emissions. After reading a plethora of information I have come to the conclusion that cutting co2 emissions won't change the climate one iota.

Here’s why.

CO2 levels rise as a result of heat thus when the planet warms co2 is released into the atmosphere but, it takes 800 – 1000 years to show up as raised co2 levels!  Let’s also not forget that plants adore co2 and in return give us back our life-giving oxygen, Don’t get me wrong, I would love to see a reduction of cars on the roads, far less land clearing and fewer factories spewing out noxious gasses into the atmosphere. But it’s not that, that’s changing the climate.

 To find out more, perhaps we should have a peek at the history books. 

Between the years 800- 1280 the planet began to warm after a protracted period of glacial cold, which produced some astonishing results. Greenland became a utopia of fertile valleys and lush meadows and evidence have been found that the Vikings farmed livestock as far north as Upernavik which today is permanently covered in ice.

During this period of balmy weather, Europe flourished producing record crop outputs. Even the UK was producing wine at a rate greater than France with their vineyards stretching almost to the Scottish border. In short, this period of climate change created a glorious period of prosperity until it came crashing down when the climate shifted yet again and glacial cold reemerged.

So, what caused this rapid cooling? 

In short, the sun.

 During that particular period, the earth suffered one of the five solar minimums of the last thousand years. A solar minimum is when the sun enters a low - ebb, and sunspot activity declines and it puts out less energy, which is when the planets get colder. From 1280- 1350 places like Greenland suddenly became covered in ice forcing the Vikings to abandon their settlements. In Scotland, the population had to move south to survive, while right across Europe and northern Asia famines raged.

From the period 1850 – 2016 sunspot activity has been at its highest recorded levels meaning the Earth’s climate has been warming, but now, once again the sun is entering a solar minimum.

This might explain why in the U.S.A. winters are getting colder with temperatures dropping 2 degrees on average each year. The last two years have seen some of the biggest snowstorms since records began. Ice cover on the Great lakes reached 80 % with many cargo vessels becoming icebound. 

Britain recorded its coldest winter in fifteen years in 2017 while Sweden topped that with its coldest winter in over one hundred years!

Glaciers around the world are beginning to grow again while the Antarctic ice levels have in the last few years expanded to unprecedented levels. Snowfalls in South Korea, South Africa Jordan Turkey and Libya were the highest ever seen.

But, aren’t we being told the earth is getting warmer?

 Since 1990, due to budget cuts, only 20 % of the world’s surface is now monitored by weather stations and most of the ones that remain are centred around large cities where urban heat is at its most fierce. We are continually told that the Arctic ice cap is melting and the polar bear population is dying as a result, even though their numbers have increased by 5000 in the last 15 years! Hurricanes are getting a lot bigger, yet not as big as in the 1940s. Coral atolls are sinking, but could it be that this is due to the weight of the population living on them?

A vast amount of money is being pumped into "fighting" climate change by way of green taxes, carbon credits and something called clean nuclear energy. One of the biggest players is G.E. whose vast holdings include an array of alternative energy companies. Is it any surprise then when, a few years ago, they purchased the Weather Channel as, what better way to tell the world about climate-related disasters backed up by the tons of skewed data they put out on a daily basis?

 As I mentioned at the beginning of this piece, I am neither a scientist nor even remotely qualified to voice an opinion on such complex issues as, 'what is or isn’t causing the climate to change', but I felt this morning the need to have a bit of a rant.

So I shall retire now to re-read the diaries of that wonderful 17th-century astronomer, Mr Hershele who predicted that by the end of the 21st century we will have entered yet another full-blown ice age.

 In the meantime, must dash and purchase a warm coat before they sell out…. just saying!

South Africa July 2018