Solar radiation is at a 20-year high, and some scientists are worried it could signal a major change in our energy supply. What will it do to our infrastructure? And what will it mean for climate change? Today's episode is brought to you by Popular Science and The Planetary Society.
00:00:01.440I'd like you to comment and share your answers.
00:00:06.100In your lifetime, in the lower 48, how many times have you seen the Northern Lights, the Aurora Borealis?
00:00:16.720One thing that is very strange right now is that we have had, I believe, five events in two years.
00:00:24.400And this is supposed to be extremely rare.
00:00:27.460Something that happens only a handful of times every century.
00:00:32.060Now we are getting new reports that the Aurora will be visible again across the United States, not too far south like last time, like we saw a month ago.
00:00:42.900Still, seemingly very rare, but happening with increased frequency.
00:02:55.620Maybe this is just something that happens.
00:02:58.320Or maybe there's a reason why powerful elites are building bunkers in the mountains and prioritizing the expansion of alternative energy sources that can exist in areas where there's no access to oil, while at the same time investing everything in oil.
00:03:32.040If there were to be a great pole shift, or the big one, they call it, a Carrington event-sized coronal mass ejection just blasting our infrastructure, how would we restore power?
00:03:45.480If we can't pump the oil, how are we going to fuel our machines?
00:03:48.580Well, just so happens, thanks to these climate change advocates, we've been building alternate sources of energy which can be placed in areas where there's no oil to deliver energy, or an area where we could pump oil and restore our energy infrastructure if only we had existing energy to do it.
00:04:06.880That is, if we've got no fuel and our systems are fried, how do we pump the oil we have beneath us?
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00:05:52.060The sun is currently in its active phase and has been unleashing a steady stream of powerful solar flares, triggering severe geomagnetic storms on Earth.
00:06:02.180But the consequence of these solar outbursts may be more significant than the occasional satellite disruption or sudden appearance of brilliant northern lights.
00:06:10.120The sudden appearance of brilliant northern lights is an omen, by the way.
00:06:13.980It's like a bad sign of things that are coming.
00:06:16.880In a recent release, the Surrey Space Center in the United Kingdom reported that a burst of solar activity caused a sharp radiation spike, strong enough to be detected at ground level.
00:06:25.320Early analyses revealed that radiation levels at 40,000 feet, altitudes frequented by commercial airplanes, peaked at 10 times the normal range, surpassing the previous record set nearly 20 years ago.
00:06:38.760So when they say 20-year high, it's worse than the 20-year high.
00:06:45.600This was the strongest ground-level event we've seen since December of 2006.
00:06:50.780Clive Dyer, a climate scientist at the University of Surrey at the U.K., said in a statement,
00:06:57.520We know from historical observations that significantly bigger events are possible, and we need to be ready.
00:07:03.460The sun follows a 22-year magnetic cycle with solar activity rising and peaking roughly every 11 years.
00:07:09.240But when conditions are right, solar flares also fire off coronal mass ejections or large plasma expulsions that tamper with Earth's magnetic field.
00:07:19.420Well, my friends, currently, as of now, from NOAA, we are in a G3 solar storm.
00:07:27.740This is from the evening of Wednesday, December 3rd, G3 warning.
00:07:35.320An anticipated coronal hole high-speed stream is having early-related effects, and a G3 warning was issued into Wednesday evening.
00:07:48.820They say geomagnetic activity can vary considerably during storm progression, with intermittent periods of escalation or weakening as the major disturbances in solar winds continues.
00:07:59.700Monitor SWPC webpage for additional information.
00:08:07.140I am showing you this right now, my friends.
00:08:09.420According to NOAA.gov, the auroras are going to, once again, it appears, according to this, it's kind of hard to see because it's a little small,
00:08:20.800it looks like it's going to reach southern Illinois, St. Louis, Tennessee, not quite Texas, but Nebraska, West Virginia, D.C., Virginia.
00:08:53.120I have to be a little quiet because my children are still asleep, but I also had to—I don't know what the hell this is,
00:08:59.880but do you understand what's happening when we get a story like the top story in the morning news today about them spotting the galactic magnetic reversal and it's local?
00:09:10.600Do you understand what it's like, what was that, a week or two ago, geodesy breaking down?
00:10:07.640So I sent you guys the video message from a whole bunch of my friends who need to remain in the shadows because they're the ones with access to information.
00:10:20.540It's where we get so much of the hints about where to look for stuff.
00:10:25.820And it's good to be the nexus, but if the network breaks, there is no nexus.
00:10:37.180You guys might remember I told you that they were saying that they are all getting ready to start dripping this information
00:10:42.740because they figure it out as long as you don't just give away the whole bag in one paper.
00:10:47.340If you don't try to just tear it all down with one swing, you can let the drops accumulate, and they're accumulating very quickly.
00:10:57.360And there's about to be a complete shift of—I don't know if the Overton window is the right way to put it
00:11:04.160because I think that that's more in terms of, like, what's politically okay to talk about.
00:11:08.040But whatever the version of the Overton window is in terms of science and culture and mainstream discussions,
00:11:15.100even people talking to each other, I don't know if you guys saw the post,
00:11:21.420but pretty much every AI, when prompted neutrally, will suggest that whatever the Overton window of the rest of Worldly,
00:11:38.040discourse is, it is moving in this direction, and there's about to be a cliff that it's going to fall off of.