Early Predictions of Climate Change
From the time of the ancient Greeks through the 19th century to present day, the effects that humans have on the earth’s climate have been studied. Scientists have been able to track the earth’s climate change through out history. In the 1930s a noticeable warming trend was noticed compared to the average temperature in the 19th century. Guy Stewart Callendar, an English engineer, studied the changes in the climate and concluded that the human emissions of carbon dioxide gas could lead to the “greenhouse effect”. “With a new awareness that climate could change in serious ways, in the early 1970s some scientists predicted a continued gradual cooling, perhaps a phase of a long natural cycle or perhaps caused by human pollution of the atmosphere with smog and dust” (Weart, 2003-2010). The concept of the “greenhouse effect” was first introduced in 1896 by Swedish scientist Svante Arrhenius. Together with Thomas Chamberlin, Arrhenius “calculated that human activities could warm the earth by adding carbon dioxide to the atmosphere” (Enzler, 2004, para 1). While a supply of natural greenhouse gases are needed to maintain a sustainable climate, in which humans can survive, too much was predicted to cause a blanket that traps the heat in the earth’s atmosphere. The trapped heat was believed to result in a rise in temperature. According to Environmental Defense Fund, “Even if the temperature change is at the small end of the predictions, the alterations to the climate are expected to be serious: more intense storms, more pronounced droughts, coastal areas more severely eroded by rising seas” (How much is too much, para. 3). Predictions of the effects that humans have on climate have continued over the years. In 1957 oceanographer Roger Revelle predicted that the atmosphere would experience changes as the result of carbon dioxide build up. In 1980 climatologist Suki Manabe predicted the effects of global warming on the earth’s poles. The various predictions on the effects on the earth’s climate change are all a result of human impact.

EnvirononmentaL Defense Fund. (2010). EDF. Retrieved from http://www.edf.org/page.cfm?tagID=35215&source=ggadgw35215&gclid=CJDm3Jia5aI CFQ8ObAod0Qy7Qg
Enzler, S.M. (1998-2009). Lenntech. Lenntech BV. Retrieved from http://www.lenntech.com/greenhouse-effect/global-warming-history.htm
Weart, S. (2003-2010). Discovery of Global Warming. Center for History of Physics. Retrieved from http://www.aip.org/history/climate/index.htm#contents.