[financeprof]

The study underlying this article was given a serious beat-down on an extended FR thread yesterday. Even those who believe that there are extraterrestrial climate forcings do not believe that variations in the sun's energy output is important. Instead, solar cycles affect cloud formation through their effect on the amount of ionizing radiation coming from space.

[Pete from Shawnee Mission]

What this article does not discuss is the internal heat of the earth which is also capable of variation, and is not, of course, subject to anything that we might do (unless drawing out oil is causing global warming!)

Some scientists believe that El Nino, a heating of the surface temperature of currents originating in the SWPac are caused by volcanic forces.