Today is global warming’s birthday — well, the day the term was coined 35 years ago. What are you going to do on this day?
On Aug. 8, 1975, Wally Broecker used the phrase global warming in scientific literature for the first time. The article, published in the journal Science, was: “Are we on the brink of a pronounced global warming?“
In the article, he wrote: “The exponential rise in the atmospheric carbon dioxide content will tend to become a significant factor and by early in the next century will have driven the mean planetary temperature beyond the limits experienced during the last 1000 years.”
Exactly right! (See our latest summary on global warming news for some of the latest details.)
“Broecker’s paper is a reminder that global warming was actually predicted before it became evident in the global temperature records over a decade later (when Jim Hansen in 1988 famously stated that ‘global warming is here’),” RealClimate notes.
The question now is not if we are experiencing global warming (although many are still trying to make that the question), and the question is not about what the causes and effects of global warming are.
But, rather, the question is: what are we going to do about it?
What are you going to do about it today?
Thank you, Grist, for bringing this global warming birthday and the quotes above to our attention.
Photo Credit: woodleywonderworks via flickr
Climate scientists are saying that humans are warming the planet. They are not agreeing on whether the climate would be stable absent human interference, whether we can stabilize it, or whether it would be cost-effective to do so.
the climate would never be stagnant, but it’s clear we’re the hugely dominant influence on rapid warming:
http://planetsave.com/2012/01/19/what-is-causing-global-warming/
clearly, inaction would result in us not ‘stabilizing’ it. action, potentially.
there’s less research on cost comparisons, but there seems to be some pretty strong evidence that it’s much, much cheaper to take action:
http://cleantechnica.com/2012/03/02/clean-energy-is-needed-now-climate-scientists-climate-economists-say/
http://planetsave.com/2012/03/02/economist-nordhaus-corrects-wsj-global-warming-nonsense/
http://planetsave.com/2012/04/07/uk-report-cost-of-stopping-climate-change-pennies-a-day-less-than-inaction/