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Scientists first 200 years ago, the first scientists to study climate change began., but most of the events and discoveries that have driven conversation about the planet’s temperature came in more recent years. Here are some key moments which brought attention to these issues:
1. Early Evidence
The Keeling Curve tracks changes to the concentration of CO2 within the Earth’s atmosphere, using data from a Mauna Loa research station in Hawaii.
Encyclopedia Britannica/UIG/Getty Images
In 1958, Charles David Keeling began plotting levels of CO2 in the atmosphere from atop Mauna Loa in Hawaii, producing the famous Keeling CurveThis site is updated daily. (When he started, the atmospheric levels of CO2 were 313 parts per Million (ppm); they are now at a much lower level. around 420 ppm.)
Keeling’s measurements provided the first, unequivocal irrefutable proof that levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere were increasing. Spencer Weart reports in The Discovery of Global Warming, his eponymous curve “became the central icon of the greenhouse effect.” It spurred other scientists to conduct corroborating research, including Syukuro Manabe of the Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratoryof the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Manabe was then the leader of a team that developed the first comprehensive modelThe climate’s response to an increase of atmospheric CO2 extrapolated using the Keeling Curve. In 2021, Manabe’s work He was awarded a share in the Nobel Prize for Physics.
In 1965, scientists on the U.S. President’s Science Advisory Committee First to raise concerns about greenhouse warming, arguing that the continued release of CO2 into the atmosphere would “almost certainly cause significant changes” and “could be deleterious from the point of view of human beings.” And in 1983, back-to-back reports from the National Academy of Sciences and the Environmental Protection Agency sounded the alarm about rising greenhouse gas levels, with the EPA report warning that “Substantial increases in global warming may occur sooner than most of us would like to believe.”
As a consequence, Notes the American Institute of Physics, “climate scientists found themselves in demand to give tutorials to journalists, government agency officials, and even groups of senators, who would sit obediently for hours of lecturing on greenhouse gases and computer models.”
2. Jim Hansen Testifies
After the NAS and EPA reports, as well as other growing evidence of the reality that greenhouse warming is real, Congress held a number hearings and invited the testimony from outside experts. On June 23, 1988, James Hansen, of NASA Goddard Institute of Space Studies, gave testimony. It was a hot day in Washington, D.C. Sen. that, “The earth is warmer in 1988 than at any time in the history of instrumental measurements,” and that there was “only a 1 percent chance of an accidental warming of this magnitude … The greenhouse effect has been detected, and it is changing our climate now.”
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The New York Times declared that Hansen’s testimony “sounded the alarm with such authority and force that the issue of an overheating world has suddenly moved to the forefront of public concern.” Weart wrote that coverage of Hansen’s speech was so extensive that, “according to a 1989 poll, 79 percent of Americans recalled having heard or read about the greenhouse effect”—a huge jump from 31 percent in 1981. Two months later, George H.W. Bush, running for president It was declared that, “’Those who think we are powerless to do anything about the greenhouse effect forget about the ‘White House effect’; as President, I intend to do something about it … We will talk about global warming, and we will act.”
3. ‘An Inconvenient Truth’
From lower left, Davis Guggenheim, the director, and producers Laurie David and Lawrence Bender, Scott Burns, pose next to an image of Al Gore in their documentary “An Inconvenient truth.”
Mel Melcon/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
Follow his footsteps FailureIn the 2000 U.S. Presidential Election, Al GorePresenting a slide show about climate change science and policy, he began to present the 2006 documentary. Director David Guggenheim and Laurie David created the slide show. An Inconvenient Truth.
The documentary, and an Begining bookThe author explained the science behind global climate change and presented potential impacts on the polar and sea levels, extreme weather, and other areas. Finally, he called for collective action. A 2017 study found that the film was highly effective in educating students, despite being suggested by several countries. Increased awarenessGlobal warming and the willingness to act to stop it (even if it has arguably helped) accentuate a growing partisan divideYou can read more about the issue.
It was released ten years later. Highly regardedWith inspiring a new generation Think about global warmingAnd even more Climate activists:. The film grossed more than $50,000,000 worldwide at the box-office. Acquired the Academy Award in 2007Award for Best Documentary Feature. Gore was also featured in that same year. Shared the Nobel Peace PrizeWith the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
4. Extreme Weather
Scientists have predicted for years that global warming will lead to an increase in the risk of severe consequences. Increase in extreme weather events’ severity and frequency, and a number of them in the 21stCentury called attention to this prediction in very dire fashions.
In 2005, Hurricane Katrina destroyed 80 percent New Orleans. An estimated 1,800 people were killed. Superstorm Sandy caused $70.2 billion of damage along the coast of Maryland and New York in 2012. 650,000 homes destroyed, and causing death of at least 72 Americans.
Engineers rebuilt levees higher to accommodate storm surges resulting from sea-level rise after Katrina. These measures New Orleans may have been saved from disasterWhen Hurricane Ida hit in 2021. Similar to New York City, planners were also affected by Hurricane Ida in 2021. NOAA data on rising seas was used by the NOAA to determine their response to Sandy, and used “the most current climate science to influence their decisions regarding the city’s future plans for everything from infrastructure to community preparedness.”
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