Climate Change Background

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.

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.

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).

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