Climate Change and Common Sense

Canadian scientists are seeking funds to expand their research on their clues that the activity of the sun may be presaging a rather long period of global cooling. Yes, they are deviating from the dogma of such well-respected climatologists as Al Gore and John McCain, but they at least have common sense on their side. The Canadian scientists are wanting to look at the sun for evidence of increased sunspot activity. Solar activity fluctuates in an 11 year cycle, but so far in this cycle the sun has had very little activity. This lack of solar activity could be the signal that we may be starting what is known as the Maunder Minimum, an event which occurs every couple of centuries and can last as long as a century. Such an event last occurred in the 17th century. There was solar inactivity which corresponded to a period of bitter cold starting in about 1650 and lasted, with brief periods of warming, until 1715. Frigid winters and cold summers led to massive crop failures, famine, and death in Northern Europe.
The Canadians have been using a 60 year old radio telescope to monitor solar activity and want newer instruments to better monitor the sun. Since all of us aren't climate scientists, we need to fall back on our common sense. Here is the question: Which is more likely to have an effect on earth's climate---the sun or man? After you answer that, you need to ask if you really believe that man can do anything to influence in any way that which the sun hath wrought?