The Grand Solar Minimum: Act Now!

At the risk of sounding like an alarmist (or like someone who is wearing a tin-foil hat), I want to bring to your attention a development which is not receiving any attention at all from the usual suspects who provide us with "information." It involves the apparent advent of a term I suggest you search for: "grand solar minimum (GSM)." (For the record, I no longer use Google's search engine. Instead, I use the search engine at duckduckgo.com, which is easy to install and just as easy to use as Google - with their promise that, unlike Google, users are not grist for the data mill. I have to say that I haven't noticed any products or services I've searched via duckduckgo appearing in display ads at sites such as, well, Facebook; but I digress...) (Disclosure: I have no official connection to the search provider I've mentioned, nor do I receive any remuneration for my mentioning them - although I'm open to the possibility, hah hah hah.)

Why do I bring this topic before you? If the science behind the observations regarding Solar Cycle 25 and the GSM is correct - and I believe that the data is credible, and that the scientists interpreting it, whose company includes NASA experts - we are entering a period of time which is projected to last for approximately half a century, during which the sun's activity, measured primarily by a decline in the number of sunspots, will be significantly reduced. One result of this decrease is that the earth will receive a reduced amount of sunlight, leading to cooling on a scale not seen since the "Little Ice Age" and possibly as intense as the Maunder Minimum which is typically dated as having started in or about AD 1645 and which lasted until roughly AD 1715.

Now we come to the boundaries of the tin-foil hat region, but prudence suggests that maybe being a wee bit crazy isn't necessarily a bad thing. If there is a significant shift in the earth's climate, and if the projections of researchers such as Dr. Valentina Zharkova are correct, the cooling associated with a GSM will significantly affect - as in, "reduce" - food production in areas on which we depend for a substantial portion of what we eat, including the American Midwest. The ripple effects will mean there will be less food available in every form. (Remember that a substantial portion of the corn and soybeans grown each year in the USA are not directly consumed by human beings, but are instead fed to cattle and pigs.) Food scarcity will result in higher prices for what is available; and it is within the realm of possibility that social disorder, which could devolve into a state in which the laws which protect us can no longer be enforced, will follow. Hungry people are desperate, and desperate people will do (almost) anything to survive. It's not a pretty picture.

Will this happen? I hope it does not. We should pray it does not. Ironically, the phenomenon of "global warming" may, in fact, ameliorate some degree of the impacts of a GSM. But at the same time, is there any reason why we should not take whatever steps we can to be ready if it *does* come to pass. So, what can be done?

At a minimum, begin by establishing a stockpile of food for your family. It can be as easy as buying two, rather than one, of the items you are going to purchase anyway when doing your grocery shopping, especially purchases of things which have a longer shelf life: dry beans, rice, pasta, and even canned fruit and vegetable (although these aren't the greatest from a nutritional point of view). Have enough food to feed yourself and your family for three days to start. Then expand it to enough for one week; then two weeks; and so on. Make sure you have access to water from sources other than your water company or municipal utility, with a two gallons per person per day minimum. Expand that, as well. This is simply good practice for any disaster scenario: major storm, earthquake, and so on - and remember that, when your neighbor loses his or her job, that's unfortunate, but if it happens to you it's a disaster. If the worst happens, you're ready; and if nothing happens, hey, you eat what you've stored - and since it's likely that prices will go up, your preparations mean that you're saving money on today's meal (even though the replacement in your stored foods will cost more at the time of purchase). If you live in a place which experiences a winter season (which we call "not summer" here in the desert southwest), think about how you can heat your home should the usual source of heat be interrupted. Do you have a wood stove? Can you retrofit one? Are there other things you can do?

Deeper into tinfoil-hat land: Consider moving to a warmer climate. There are some scientists who are predicting that regions above the 30-degree latitude line may very well experience dramatic changes in seasonal weather, including much colder winters. (As a point of reference, the line for the 30-degrees north latitude runs through northern Mexico. At La Casa McCuen, we're at about 35-degrees north latitude. Our youngest won't complain about the snow...) Plant your own garden so you can grow some food for yourself and your family. Create a greenhouse if you can't move. Again, if the worst thing that happens is that nothing happens, consider that, over time, what you will save by growing your own food - which can only be healthier than what you find at your local mega-mart - is still going to be worth making the effort. Win-win, right?

Okay. If you've read this far, thank you! (If you didn't, why not? 😎) I will close with this quotation from an abstract for a paper entitled, "Reinforcing a Double Dynamo Model with Solar-Terrestrial Activity in the Past Three Millennia" by Dr. Zharkova and others, as published in the July 2017 issue of, "Symposium S335 (Space Weather of the Heliosphere: Processes and Forecasts)":

In this paper we extrapolate backwards three millennia the summary curve describing solar activity and compare it with the relevant historic data. The extrapolated summary curve shows a remarkable resemblance to the sunspot and terrestrial activity reported in the past millennia: the Maunder Minimum (1645-1715), Wolf minimum (1200), Oort minimum (1010-1050), Homer minimum (800-900 BC), the medieval warm period (900-1200), the Roman warm period (400-10BC).

Please also remember Joseph in Egypt, who correctly interpreted Pharoah's dream of seven skinny cows devouring seven fat cows. Until now, we've been living during the period of the well-fed cows. If we are on the threshold of a period symbolized by the starving cows, we could do worse than follow the instructions Joseph gave to ensure that there would be food for the people of Egypt - don't you agree?
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More food for thought, along the lines of what I've written above. (See what I did there? 😛) The following are headlines for reports appearing with today's dateline at the agroinsurance.com/en/ website - another site with whom I have no official connection, and from whom I receive only information, although if they want to make a donation... Here we go!

USA - Ohio had the worst planting season in the country

Canada - How climate change could impact agriculture

Note that this involves projections of global warming-related impacts. For this discussion, global warming and/or the GSM is irrelevant. The focus is on reduced crop production and the food shortages which will have a profound impact on our people and culture.

Peru - Drop in temperatures could affect grape production in Piura

Philippines - Dry spell and typhoons cut banana production by 2.83%
Putting this in perspective: a 2.83% reduction equates to 127,000 metric TONS of bananas below the forecasted harvest. A metric ton equals one thousand kilograms; or 2,204.6 pounds. In other words, this is a shortfall of 279,984,200 pounds of bananas; a pound of bananas for almost everyone in the United States.

Forewarned is forearmed. What are you waiting for?