The South China Morning Post reports:
It's about to get cold again. Very cold, and for quite a long time.
This comes as no surprise to your favourite scribe, of course - I've been saying so for the better part of a couple of decades now. Ever since, in fact, I read a report written by Khabibullo Abdusamatov, from the Pulkovo Astronomic Observatory in St Petersburg, Russia, suggesting that the earth was headed for a mini-ice age, based on his observations, and the correlation of his findings with those of Serbian mathematician Milutin Milankovitch.
Some snippets from the SMCP article:
"A new study has found winters in northern China have been warming since 4,000BC – regardless of human activity – but the mainland scientists behind the research warn there is no room for complacency or inaction on climate change, with the prospect of a sudden global cooling also posing a danger."
"“Driving forces include the sun, the atmosphere, and its interaction with the ocean,” Wu said. “We have detected no evidence of human influence.""
"The 2014 research, which drew on 5,000 years’ worth of data, suggested the current warm phase of the cycle could terminate over the next several decades, ushering in a 250-year cool phase"
"Wu said the latest study, with 10,000 years’ worth of new data, not only helped to draw a more complete picture of the 500-year cycle, but also revealed a previously unknown mechanism behind the phenomenon, which suggested the impact of the sun on the Earth’s climate may be greater than previously thought."
- Really? How surprising. Not.
"As a result of the research findings, Wu said she was now more worried about cooling than warming.
“A sharp drop of temperature will benefit nobody. The biggest problem is, we know it will come, but we don’t know exactly when.” "
Time to stock up on firewood, people. And dig more coal. We're going to need it.