Too Much Of A Good Thing?

OK, OK, so the tree-hugging, chicken littles for years have been telling us how badly we are messing up our planet with pollution. Now I read in an article called Clear skies end global dimming by Quirin Schiermeier on Nature Publishing Group's News@Nature.Com that says our skys are too clean and are allowing too much solar energy to reach the ground. Apparently this will now lead to increased global warming.

Reductions in industrial emissions in many countries, along with the use of particulate filters for car exhausts and smoke stacks, seem to have reduced the amount of dirt in the atmosphere and made the sky more transparent.

That sounds like very good news. But the researchers say that more solar energy arriving on the ground will also make the surface warmer, and this may add to the problems of global warming. More sunlight will also have knock-on effects on cloud cover, winds, rainfall and air temperature that are difficult to predict.

Before you start running around looking for a hole to bury your head in, relax...if you recall, the planet is starting to experience a trend of volcanic eruptions, and this should spew enough ash into the upper atmosphere to cancel out these dreaded clear skies. You might want to use a good sun block until then.