Republican U.S. Senate candidate Ron Johnson has garnered some national attention – albeit not necessarily positive – for his claim that sunspots are the cause of global warming:
My favorite has to be the anchor practically bursting into the laughter at the end of the clip.
And speaking of Ron Johnson’s theory that sunspots cause global warming, the Democratic Party of Wisconsin has a new ad out highlighting the craziness that is Ron Johnson’s theory:
The phenomenon that is Ron Johnson’s sunspots explanation for global warming has also caught on in the Twitterverse, with the #blamesunspots hashtag being used to explain a variety of unusual situations.
Sunspots, or more aptly sun intensity, DOES influence earth’s climate. As does earth’s tilt, orbit, and naturally occurring atmospheric particulate matter (e.g. volcanic ash) and greenhouse gases.
It’s just that these natural factors cannot alone explain the uptick in temperature since the industrial revolution, and sunspots in particular are not of much use in explaining the increased rate of warming in the last ten years as during that time earth has been in the middle of a deep solar minimum.
So yes, let’s feel free to pick on Mr. Johnson, but let’s at least pick on him for the right reason.