Solar activity has sharply declined. There is only one numbered sunspot on the Earth-facing side of the sun, and it is so small you might have trouble finding it.
The sun looks like it did during 2008-2009, years of spotlessness when the sun plunged into the deepest solar minimum in a century. The resemblance, however, is only superficial. Scientists believe that deep inside the sun, the solar dynamo is still churning out knots of magnetism that should soon bob to the surface to make new sunspots. Solar Max is not finished, it's just miniature.
An inactive solar maximum, however, does suggest strongly that the earth will not experience rising temperatures. In fact, we may well see temperatures decline over time, if the sun continues this quiet spell.
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