Suppose the Russian astronomer is right-and the sun is a variable star. The earth begins to cool off, as solar activity and output of energy declines. Studies suggest that ice ages can come on suddenly-suppose we notice mountain glaciers strating to grow again. Would we be wise to start burning coal like crazy? Could we keep the earth warm in this way?
You may find this recent GD thread to be of interest:
New Ice Age…what would we do?
Niven & Pournelle did a novel, Fallen Angels, where it was found out that we were already in an ice age, and the only thing that was stopping it were humans’ greenhouse-gas activities. We cleaned up our act, and shortly after mile-thick sheets of ice covered the northern hemisphere. Oops.
Or what about spreading some dark colored organic substance on the approaching ice?