[rxnixoncom]

you can track the sun's spot activity, cme's, and solar winds at:

http://www.spaceweather.com/

i've been checking it several times a week for most of the last couple of years. we are in a very quiet period of solar activity. there have been a mere handful of sun-spots in the last several months and more. this is not what is expected based on the sun's "usual" 11 year cycle and current science's knowledge thereof. daernoth's link covers this.

there is also the maunder minimum to be considered, a period of extremely low sunspot activity that coincided with the little ice age:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/maunder_minimum

while so much emphasis on 2012 looks toward major solar activity of some sort - major sunspots, coronal mass ejections, etc (scientists predicted this solar cycle to be 50% more intense than the last one, so the general consciousness has leaned then toward the idea of massive solar energetic change toward intense activity) perhaps we are already witnessing that very thing, but being a case of inactivity we are missing just how major a thing it is. while it won't knock down any satellites, a lack of solar activity might indeed have even more drastic effects upon our climate than major sunspot and other activity.

and the lack of solar activity combined with the atlantic ocean conveyor current shutting down (cold, fresh water melt from the poles is disrupting the atlantic currents) points to the potentiality of severe climate change in the form of an ice age for england, europe, and much of north america. so much for global warming. the warming is just a trigger for cooling, believe it or not.
more water means more water surface which means more evaporation which is both more cooling and more moisture in the air, which is more precipitation and cloud cover, which supports further cooling. voila! get out yer snowshoes!

keeping my eyes (figuratively) on the sun!