In the event of a really large solar event, not only might our electromagnetic infrastructure be damaged, but the resulting impact on the biosphere may require us to act to stabilize the electromagnetic field of the planet. This may require turning off sources of electromagnetic disruption that are currently considered essential services.

Some of the major industrial sources of electromagnetic pollution include:

• Electricity power grids

• Mobile phone networks

• Satellite communications networks

• ELF communication systems

• Radar

• Microwave networks like WiFi and CCTV monitoring systems

• Auroral research projects like HAARP

Power Lines

Power lines lose energy in the process of transmission. Where power lines are very long, they can lose as much as 40 percent of the total energy transmitted. This electromagnetic energy leaking out into the atmosphere has a very pronounced effect on the ionosphere and can cause it to warp and bend. Many major power lines transport currents in the range of 750 megavolts and some carry up to 1,500 megavolts. Extremely low frequency (ELF) waves from power lines are probably the biggest source of manmade electromagnetic radiation into Earth's atmosphere. ELF pollution has been doubling every decade for the last thirty years, and the average intensity of the manmade ELF magnetic fields is now more than ten times stronger than the natural planetary and cosmic background. Other significant contributors to ELF pollution include radar stations and hydroelectric power plants.

Electromagnetic Warfare

The electromagnetic spectrum has been used in the past for more than energy transmission and communication. On July 4, 1976, a radio mast in Kiev started emitting a complex harmonic ELF signal based around 11Hz that spread across the world. This powerful signal upset radio communications everywhere and was named the Russian woodpecker after the buzzsaw sound it made. The intention behind this was to deliberately broadcast frequencies that were damaging to human health and mental well-being. These transmissions ended after the fall of the Soviet Union, but they illustrate how much influence ELF signals can have. ELF waves will penetrate anything and everything, which is why ELF transmissions are used for submarine communication.

HAARP and Disruption of the Ionosphere

The highly controversial High-Frequency Active Auroral Research Program (HAARP) is the most versatile and largest radio-frequency radiation transmitter in the world. The HAARP Ionospheric Research facility based in Alaska is a high-power transmitter and antenna array operating in the high-frequency (HF) range. The transmitter is capable of delivering up to 3.6 million watts to an antenna system consisting of 180 antennas arranged as a rectangular array.

HAARP's research focuses on plasmas and the relationship between the sun's energy and events on Earth. There have been some claims that HAARP could perform significant weather-control experiments. Radio operators monitoring HAARP transmissions noticed a correlation between RF output from the station and the growth of hurricanes Katrina and Rita into dangerous storms in 2005. This may be coincidental, but the ionosphere is delicate. High-energy physicist Dr. Elizabeth Rauscher has predicted that if a big enough hole is punched through it, it could pop.

A major breach in the planet's ionosphere, on top of its already weakened magnetosphere, could change the effect of a major solar event from severe to potentially disastrous. The ionosphere is part of a complex system responsible for stabilizing the planet's atmosphere. The hole in the ozone layer, which has been caused by the human production of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), is an example of the kind of negative impact human activity can unexpectedly have on the sensitive upper atmosphere.

Even radical action to reduce the electromagnetic impact of humans may not stabilize a magnetic pole shift already in progress. Failure to take action, however, may accelerate the rate of change, which may prove seriously undesirable. A final possibility is that manmade electromagnetic tinkering with Earth's magnetic field may actually induce or catalyze such an event.