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Ankesh,

Thanks for asking about US - humans - being able to Control the Global temperature of the Earth. At least, I assume that's what you're asking.

See. Your question... "Disregarding whether this warming up of Earth is man made or natural."... has an assumption in it. That the weather is currently warming up.

Yes, ice core data would appear to show a slightly warmer (one tenth of one degree) change. But it also shows, many up/down changes can happen while there is an overall trend up or down - while trending down there can be a year or two of warming, for instance. While trending level we can have periods of warming and cooling for instance as well.

"can anything be done about it"

The question should be... SHOULD anything be done about it?

Now, if we take that we are in a 1/10th degree warming period, Should we do anything about it?

I say.... No!

Leave the Earth's weather to do what it does.

Richard Branson wants to Reward some Boffin for finding an economical way to remove CO2 from the atmosphere.

Um... hey Branson... the Ocean's - and therefore the planet's - CO2 pump removes Heaps. Trees do their part too.

Either the man is a complete Goose - or - he knows the truth of it and is just trying to Cash In on the anti-CO2 craze and get himself some free publicity, and a good guy badge.

Anyway. Say we, as a species, did find a way to stop the Sun heating the Earth and thus we Cool us down.

Why do that? Why rush into an ice age?

Cold is Death.

Foods supplies diminish. Millions - billions - will starve to death.

Warmth is life. Plants grow. Foods grows. Life flourishes.

"Is there a solution?"

What Problem do you think we need a solution to?

"Or do we just have to suffer and wait out for the change to become better for us again?"

Better for us? In what way do you want Better? What is so wrong with the weather we have now?

Look. The problem with humans is, we live too short a life. Even if we lived 1,000 years, that is a Dot on the global time scale.

Take T-Rex http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tyrannosaurus or Triceratops http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triceratops for example. They lived around 65 to 68 millions years ago. And were around for millions of years themselves. At a time, it is commonly thought, to be quite Warm - warmer than today.

Humans have been around for what... 150,000 to 200,000 years in current form. Heck, even Neanderthals were around for longer - more than Double that.

So our time here is a speck. As such, we don't remember - nor do we pass on very well through written or verbal form - past events.

There is no-one around from 130,000 year ago who can tell us what it was like living in an ice age and what they thought as the weather turned warm. Did they try to stop it getting warmer - or did they welcome it? They cannot tell us what it was like to live through a ice age turn warm period and back to ice age.

And so, all we have is limited weather data and our own memories. And based on this, the media would have us all believe, the polar caps will melt and the sea will rise and flood the cities and we'll all die.

All brought about by a gas which makes up 0.06% of the atmosphere, and to which we only contribute a tiny amount compared to other CO2 generating sources.

Having said all this... yes we can make geographical changes which would effect weather to a degree. Such as spending the next few thousand years leveling the Himalayan ranges so the wind flows smoother and placing the excavated earth into the sea to divert the flow of the ocean currents.

But by the time all this happens, the Sun and oceans will have done their jobs and the global climate will be different again. It may be warmer. It's more likely to be cooler - because we are around about Peak at the moment.

So. You want it cooler? Do nothing. Within 5,000 years it'll be so cold you'll wish it were warmer. Unless, of course, we are entering a repeat phase of dinosaur era weather with quite prolonged warm spells - but my money is on the Cooler aspects.

Of course, while we experience an ice age, there will be no humans who remember it being warm. And so when it starts to warm up again, unless people have forgone their chicken little minds and have learned to think Rationally and logically, we will once again predict doom and gloom from Global Warming.

Suffer, you ask?

Ankesh, humans don't suffer (now, no being pedantic here and telling me the plight of some 5 year old in Africa who has no food and who was birthed by an irresponsible parents who knew there was no food, but who, 23 years ago, had received Aid because there was no food then either), we Adapt.

Michael Ross