![]() While attested since the 1850s and notably used in some 1950s research and reporting, the phrase climate change spread in the 1980s. So, over time, scientists and media outlets began to favor the phrase climate change. It’s a misconception that persists today. In 2006, former Vice President Al Gore gave the phrase another major boost when he released the documentary An Inconvenient Truth, which explained the concept of global warming and the mounting scientific evidence that humans are treading a dangerous path if we don’t reduce our carbon emissions.īut, the term global warming seemed to confuse some into thinking that the Earth would just continue to get warmer and warmer and, eventually, there would be no more winter. ![]() The term global warming went mainstream in the late 1980s, when NASA scientist James Hansen testified before Congress that the scientific community could “ascribe with a high degree of confidence a cause and effect relationship” between greenhouse gases and global warming. The phenomenon, likened to the way heat gets trapped inside a greenhouse, was first described by Joseph Fourier in 1827, though not called as such until the early 1900s. Over the next century, as technology improved, scientists continued to measure the temperatures of the oceans and record rising levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.Īnother key climate change term attested by 1975, greenhouse gases, like carbon dioxide and methane, lead to the atmospheric heating phenomenon of the greenhouse effect, which contributes to global warming. The main impact was the increase in the global temperature of the planet, which has risen 1.1 ☌ since this period, although it is estimated that, by the end of the present Century, the thermometer could rise by 2.7 ° C even if national commitments to reduce emissions are fulfilled.The language surrounding climate change is changing right alongside the climate itself. But, it all began with global warming … What is global warming and greenhouse gases?Ĭlimate change was first known to many of us as global warming, a phrase dating to the 1950s that indicates “a longterm rise in Earth’s average atmospheric temperature.” The idea that global warming exists and could be attributed to human behavior, however, was first put forward in 1896 by Swedish scientist Svante Arrhenius. The Industrial Revolution was itself borne out of smaller revolutions: agricultural, technological, demographic, transport, finance… creating a new model of production and consumption.įrom then onward, population growth (in 1750, there were fewer than 800 million people on Earth, whereas now we are over 7.5 billion), exploding resource use, increasing energy demand and production, mainly from fossil fuels, all saw the planet enter into what the scientific community have termed the Anthropocene period, a new geological era characterized by human impact on Earth. ![]() WHEN DID HUMANS FIRST BEGIN TO CAUSE CLIMATE CHANGE?Įxperts agree that the Industrial Revolution was the turning point when emissions of greenhouse effect gases entering the atmosphere began to soar. In these pages, we tackle the subject from an objective, scientific viewpoint, discussing the causes and consequences of climate change and how it should be tackled.įirst, we need to clarify two concepts often mistaken for synonyms: climate change and global warming. There is an important difference between them, however, given that it is global warming that causes climate change. As the planet’s temperature rises more than it would naturally, the climate varies.Īlthough it is certain that Earth has naturally warmed up and got colder during other eras, such cycles have always been much slower, taking millions of years, whereas now, within a period of just 200 years, we are reaching levels that in the past brought about extinctions.īefore going over the causes and effects of climate change, let's explain why you don't care about climate change: Many people do not know what it really amounts to, either due to unreliable sources or deliberate misinformation, which has led to a series of myths about climate change. WHAT IS CLIMATE CHANGE AND HOW DOES IT AFFECT YOU?
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