Blame an Ancient Greek Philosopher for Starting the Climate Change Ball Rolling

As we know, the UN climate talks
in Durban aimed at agreeing new measures to stem rising emissions of planet-warming
greenhouse gases. So we can afford to contemplate how did this all begin.
Arguably, around 300 BC with Theophrastus, a student of Greek philosopher
Aristotle, who documented that human activity affects climate, observing that
drainage of marshes cools an area around Thessaly and that clearing of forests
near Philippi warms the climate. Reuters decided to look at the climate change
timeline. Read More

How the world discovered global
warming: a timeline

Alister Doyle & David Fogarty
& David Cutler for Reuters (2 December 2011):

(Reuters) – UN climate talks in
Durban, South Africa, from November 28 – December 9 are aimed at agreeing new
measures to stem rising emissions of planet-warming greenhouse gases.

Following is a look at how the
world discovered global warming and international steps to try to address it:

300 BC: Theophrastus, a student
of Greek philosopher Aristotle, documents that human activity can affect
climate. He observes that drainage of marshes cools an area around Thessaly and
that clearing of forests near Philippi warms the climate.

17th century: Flemish scientist
Jan Baptista van Helmont discovers that carbon dioxide is given off by burning
charcoal.

18th century: The Industrial
Revolution starts, bringing rising use of fossil fuels.

1820s: French mathematician
Jean-Baptiste Joseph Fourier suggests something in the atmosphere is keeping
the world warmer than it would otherwise be, a hint at the greenhouse effect.

1830s: Swiss naturalist Louis
Agassiz presents evidence of past changes in Alpine glaciers, pointing to
ancient Ice Ages and showing that the climate has not always been stable.

1860s: Irish scientist John
Tyndall shows that molecules of gases such as water vapour and carbon dioxide
trap heat. He wrote that changes “could have produced all the mutations of
climate which the researches of geologists reveal”.

1896: Swedish chemist Svante
Arrhenius becomes the first to quantify carbon dioxide’s role in keeping the
planet warm. He later concluded that burning of coal could cause a
“noticeable increase” in carbon levels over centuries.

1950s: US scientist Charles
Keeling sets up stations to measure carbon dioxide concentrations in the
atmosphere at the South Pole and at Mauna Loa, Hawaii. The measurements have
shown a steady rise.

1965: US President Lyndon Johnson
tells Congress, “This generation has altered the composition of the
atmosphere on a global scale through … a steady increase in carbon dioxide
from the burning of fossil fuels.”

1988: British Prime Minister
Margaret Thatcher tells the United Nations, “The problem of global climate
change is one that affects us all and action will only be effective if it is
taken at the international level. It is no good squabbling over who is
responsible or who should pay.”

1988: The United Nations sets up
the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) to assess the scientific
evidence.

1992: World leaders agree the UN
Framework Convention on Climate Change, which sets a non-binding goal of
stabilising greenhouse gas emissions by 2000 at 1990 levels, a target not met
overall.

1995: The IPCC concludes for the
first time that humans are causing global warming, saying: “The balance of
evidence suggests a discernible human influence on global climate.”

1997: The Kyoto Protocol is
agreed in Japan; developed nations agree to cut their greenhouse gas emissions
on average by at least 5 percent below 1990 levels by 2008-12. The United
States stays out of the deal.

2001: The IPCC concludes it is
“likely”, or at least 66 percent probable, that human activities are
the main cause of recent warming.

2001: President George W. Bush
notes the US National Academy of Sciences says greenhouse gases are rising
“in large part due to human activity”. He adds, “Yet, the
Academy’s report tells us that we do not know how much effect natural
fluctuations in climate may have had on warming. We do not know how much our
climate could, or will change in the future.”

2006: Added by Ken Hickson. A significant year in the history of things.
Al Gore’s “The Inconvenient Truth” came out in book form and followed by an
Academy Award winning film. In the UK, Nicholas Stern produced his landmark “Climate
Change Review”.

2007: The IPCC says it is
“very likely”, at least 90 per cent certain, that humans are to blame
for most of the observed warming trend of the past 50 years. It also said
warming of the planet was “unequivocal”.

2009: A conference of 193
countries agree in December to “take note” of a new Copenhagen Accord
to fight climate change, after UN talks in Denmark. The accord is not legally
binding and does not commit countries to agree a binding successor to the Kyoto
Protocol when its first stage ends in 2012. The conference did recognise
“the scientific view that the increase in global temperature should be
below 2 degrees Celsius” and “deep cuts in global emissions are
required”.

2010: A deal among 190 nations to
slow climate change throws a lifeline to UN-led talks.

2011: More than 190 nations meet
in Durban, South Africa, to try to agree what to do after the first stage of
the Kyoto Protocol expires in 2012 and on a Green Climate Fund to channel
billions of dollars to poorer nations to green their economies and help them
protect against the effects of climate change.

Source: www.reuters.com