Unprecedented solar behavior and what it means for humanity

"The Sun is Blank & What is to be Done?" (John Batchelor Show podcast)

Four minute Batchelor-Zimmerman discussion about the present solar minimum and what it portends. The discussion isn't longer because there's not much to be said, at least not in general terms.

As to what can be done if a coming Grand Solar Minimum is anything like the last one, which lasted for decades and here on Earth meant cooler temperatures and widespread crop failures and famines  -- nothing can be done. Nothing at all, except study the sun with the amazing instruments science has developed since the last Grand Solar Minimum and ponder the precariousness of life on a planet that has its own cycles of existence to deal with.

For those who might need to get in the mood for such pondering, I recommend listening to John Batchelor's talk with William Rosen about Rosen's book, "Climate 1314 AD: "The Third Horseman: A Story of Weather, War, and the Famine History Forgot." (Podcast)  Which goes to show that humans have been known to do something in the face of climate events over which they have no control: go to war.

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