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Almost two centuries after the discovery that gases in Earth’s atmosphere help warm the planet’s surface, public polling a found that more than half of Americans believe climate change poses a “critical threat” to the country’s vital interests, an increase of 10 percentage points from a June 2017 PollSix points in March 2019 and six in 2020. The resistance of the U.S. public to climate science and the To combat it, behavioral changes are required has been particularly persistent relative to much of the rest of the world; but over the last several decades, a number of events and discoveries have helped accentuate the issue’s importance. Here are some of the key developments.
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
Global warming was first established scientifically in the 19th century. Joseph Fourier discovered1824, Earth would be much colder without an atmosphere. John Tyndall determined1859 showed that water vapor and carbon dioxide block infrared radiation, and that increasing their atmospheric composition could cause warming. In 1896, Svante Arrhenius publishedThe first calculation of how much warming could be caused by an increase in carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere is shown below.
But not until the second-half of the 20Th century did updated scientific assessments begin to permeate into public consciousness—albeit slowly at first. From Mauna Loa, Hawaii in 1958, Ralph Keeling began to plot levels of CO2 in air. This led to the famous Keeling CurveThis page is updated every day. (At the time he started, the atmospheric levels of CO2 were 313 parts per Million (ppm); by 2022, they were at 2022 levels. around 420 ppm.)
In 1965, scientists on the U.S. President’s Science Advisory Committee first Send your 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.”
2. Jim Hansen Testifies
Following the NAS and EPA reports and other evidence of greenhouse warming, Congress held a series of hearings and invited outside experts to testify. The most significant was the testimony of James Hansen, NASA Goddard Institute of Space Studies, who testified on June 23, 1988, 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.” 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.”
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3. ‘An Inconvenient Truth’
From the lower left, Davis Guggenheim (director), and Lawrence Bender and Scott Burns (producers) pose next to an Al Gore image from their documentary, “An Unconvenient Truth.”
Mel Melcon/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
His followers followed his example In the 2000 U.S. Presidential Election, the margin of victory was razor thin, Al Gore—who initiated the first congressional hearing on global warming in 1981—began presenting a slide show on the science and policy issues of climate change, which producer Laurie David and director David Guggenheim transformed into the documentary An Inconvenient Truth. The documentary, which was Generally praisedScientists for its accuracy Increased awarenessGlobal warming and the willingness to act to stop it (even if it helps). accentuate a growing partisan divideThe issue is available here. It grossed more that $50 million worldwide at box office. Acquired the Academy Award in 2007Award for Best Documentary Feature. Gore was also awarded that award in the same year. Shared the Nobel Peace PrizeWith the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
4. Hurricanes Sandy, Katrina
Scientists have known for a long time that global warming will lead to major consequences. An increase in extreme weather events, both in severity and quantity, and a number of them in the 21stCentury highlighted the potential real-world effects of climate change. 2005 Hurricane KatrinaNew Orleans was inundated by 80 percent of its population. An estimated 1,800 people were killed. Although it is impossible to prove that climate change caused the storm, One study concludedProbably, the damage was exacerbated by higher ocean temperatures and higher sea levels. Similar results can be expected for higher sea levels. Superstorm Sandy brought an additional storm surge.The, which struck the coasts from Maryland northward to Manhattan in 2012. A 2021 StudyThe storm caused at least $8B in damage to the climate change.
5. Wildfires
Claire Cowie watches her horses as fire approaches Canberra, Australia, February 2020.
Brook Mitchell/Getty Images
In 2020, the American West will be a diverse range of places, from the Amazon to Australia to the American West. The world caught on fire—and climate change played a significant role. The Amazon’s southern region saw more than 600,000 fires. 25 of these fires covered more than 190 square miles. Around 28 percent of Pantanal—a floodplain region along the borders of Brazil, Bolivia, and Paraguay—burned. The same year, and again 2021, were the raging fires that swept across Siberia Sent a pallof smoke across the North Pole.
Massive wildfires in Australia gripped the world’s attention and More than 3 million animals were affected, creating “one of the worst wildlife disasters in modern history.” And with the western United States in the grip of its Worst drought in over 1,200 yearsA series of wildfires were lit California is home to more than four million acres. The scientific evidence was unambiguous: More than half the acres in the western United States were burned each year. Climate change can be attributedCalifornia’s autumn days have more than doubled in the past 20 years, thanks to a greater number of sunny, warm, and windy days.
Studies That was the result the number of fires in the Sierra Nevada could increase by 20 percent or more by the 2040s, and that the total burned area could increase by about 25 percent or more—further evidence that the warning signs of global warming have not only increased over the last several decades, they are destined to do so even more in the future.
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