 To the mainstream media, whose editors and reporters are in lockstep with certain political ideologies and social mores, global warming/climate change is an inevitable apocalyptic nightmare looming just over the horizon. This was in evidence again recently, as most media around the country breathlessly reported the details of a just-released UN report that world leaders have just a couple of years left to act to reduce man-made carbon emissions or we're all going to die a horrible, smog-filled death. 'There is potential for crossing a threshold that leads to large system changes, and that's a very unknown world that has severe consequences,' declared Kelly Levin, a scientist who studies climate change impacts at the World Resources Institute in Washington, D.C., regarding the report's findings. So the press, along with government-sponsored scientists who have been funded by taxpayers to conduct climate 'research' that has a pre-ordained outcome, believe that man-caused pollution will destroy Earth. Got it. Though real research has the jury still out on such declarations (that, and the fact that earlier press reports have outed some climate scientists, like those at East Anglia University in Britain, who purposely falsified data in order to make it seem like 'global warming' was real [ http://www.telegraph.co.uk ]), the media largely remain wedded to their version of climate change 'facts.' But what about genuine, provable and well researched findings which conclude that the earth's modern technology could be destroyed by massive electromagnetic storms generated by the sun -- storms that have occurred, on smaller scales, for millions of years? No, that kind of talk is 'apocalyptic' and foolish (if for no other reason than that the press has a real political and ideological problem with one of the people who are trying to warn us about it). Mocking and derision for such a serious, and proven, occurrence It was that kind of mocking tone taken by one writer at National Journal , known as a bastion of Left-liberal thought and political ideology, when it came to 'reporting' on concerns expressed by former GOP House Speaker Newt Gingrich and a high-profile team of experts that sun-caused electromagnetic pulse storms could destroy America's -- and the world's -- power grids: Within a year, nine out of 10 Americans could be dead. And whatever causes the national apocalypse--be it North Korean malice or the whims of the sun--the downfall will ultimately be our own fault. That's the fear of Newt Gingrich and other members of a high-profile coalition who are convinced that our fragile electrical grid could be wiped out at any moment. Their concern? Electromagnetic pulses, the short bursts of energy--caused by anything from a nuclear blast to a solar flare--that can wreak havoc on electrical systems on a massive scale. And the coalition believes it's coming soon. Indeed, according to Peter Pry, a former CIA officer and head of a congressional advisory board on national security -- not really the kind of position you get for being an alarmist or a crackpot -- the threat is real enough. 'I think we're running out of time,' Pry says. And if the worst does happen? Calamity -- no, not the 'rise-of-a-few-degrees' kind of 'calamity' (warmer temperatures would actually be good for Mankind, as this Stanford paper argues ) -- but the society-ending kind of calamity. 'This gets translated into mass fatalities, because our modern civilization can't feed, transport, or provide law and order without electricity,' Pry said. As for Gingrich? Pry says he's known about it -- and cared about it -- for years. Indeed, last year Gingrich told members of Congress that an attack using EMP 'could be the kind of catastrophe that ends civilization--and that's not an exaggeration.' And, as Gingrich has argued, an EMP blast would not have to come from a nuclear weapon; it could very well come from a gigantic solar flare that triggers a geomagnetic storm that would wipe out not just America's technology but the world's, throwing the planet back into the 19th century. What's the harm in being prepared? It's happened before, in 1859; known as the Carrington Event, a large flare fried telegraph lines around the globe. And, as Pry notes, such events tend to happen every 150 years or so, meaning the world is currently living on borrowed time. Why mock that? Would a global meltdown of the world's power and technology be a laughing matter? What's more, the solution is simple: surge protectors, in essence -- the same kind we use to protect our PCs, laptops and devices -- only on a larger scale, Gingrich and Co. say. Also, as National Journal reported: The coalition wants such protectors placed across the electrical grid to block harmful currents. In addition, advocates want to protect the extra-high-voltage transformers we depend on with metal, current-absorbing boxes called Faraday cages. And more replacement parts, especially the giant transformers that can take years to make, need to be at the ready in case we lose critical pieces of the grid. That way, even if an EMP damaged key infrastructure elements, the U.S. would have replacements ready to go. As those in the global warming mindset are fond of saying, if no such event happens, what harm would it cause to prepare, considering that the results of not doing so would be, well, catastrophic? Sources: http://www.nationaljournal.com http://news.nationalgeographic.com http://www.telegraph.co.uk http://science.selfnews.com 