The awareness of climate change as a real and pressing issue evolved gradually over the 19th and 20th centuries, but significant realizations came in several stages:
Early Scientific Realizations (19th Century)
- 1820s – Joseph Fourier: The French scientist Joseph Fourier first proposed the idea that the Earth’s atmosphere could trap heat like a greenhouse, leading to the concept of the greenhouse effect. He recognized that certain gases in the atmosphere could warm the planet, though he didn’t fully understand the details.
- 1856 – Eunice Foote: American scientist Eunice Foote made one of the first connections between carbon dioxide (CO₂) and global warming. She conducted experiments that showed CO₂ could trap heat more effectively than other gases.
- 1896 – Svante Arrhenius: Swedish chemist Svante Arrhenius made a major breakthrough when he calculated that increasing levels of CO₂ in the atmosphere due to industrial activity could raise the Earth’s temperature. He is often credited with predicting climate change due to human activities. He lived in Sweden and thought that a warmer climate was actually a pretty good idea..
Growing Concern (20th Century)
- 1930s – Guy Callendar: British engineer Guy Callendar was the first to present evidence that the planet was warming due to rising levels of CO₂ from fossil fuel combustion. This is known as the Callendar effect.
- 1950s – Charles David Keeling: In the 1950s, scientist Charles David Keeling began accurately measuring CO₂ levels in the atmosphere at the Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawaii. His measurements, known as the Keeling Curve, demonstrated a steady rise in atmospheric CO₂, confirming the link between human activities and the increasing greenhouse gas concentration. Further confirmation. was given by a slowing of the increase during the COVID reduction in industrial activity.
- 1970s – Emergence of Environmentalism: By the 1970s, the environmental movement began taking shape. Several climate studies, particularly by scientists such as James Hansen and Syukuro Manabe, confirmed that human-induced climate change was real. In 1979, the First World Climate Conference in Geneva acknowledged climate change as a significant global concern.
Major Recognition (1980s to Present)
- 1988 – Formation of the IPCC: The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) was established in 1988 by the United Nations to assess scientific knowledge related to climate change. This marked a turning point where climate change became a formal global issue, scientifically validated by a wide array of experts.
- 1992 – Earth Summit (Rio de Janeiro): This was one of the first large-scale global conferences focused on climate and environmental issues, leading to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
By the 1980s, environmentalists, scientists, and policymakers were largely convinced of the reality of human-induced climate change. The accumulation of scientific evidence since the 19th century helped solidify the environmental movement’s recognition of the climate crisis.
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