This document provides a brief history of climate change from 1712 to 2013, highlighting key milestones in scientific discoveries, innovations, and political actions. Some of the major events summarized include the invention of the steam engine in 1712, scientific studies in the 1800s establishing the greenhouse effect and role of CO2, regular CO2 measurements beginning in 1958 showing rising levels, formation of the IPCC in 1988 to assess climate change evidence, and the 2013 IPCC report attributing 95% probability that humans are the dominant cause of warming since the 1950s. The document traces the progression of scientific understanding of climate change and increasing political will to take action over the past 300 years.

1. A BRIEF HISTORY OF CLIMATE CHANGE
Presentation by John Slifko, PhD
December 2015

2. CLIMATE
Climate is usually defined as the
"average weather" in a place.

3. IT INCLUDES
PATTERNS OF
TEMPERATURE,
PRECIPITATION
(RAIN OR SNOW),
HUMIDITY,WIND
AND SEASONS.

4. CLIMATE PATTERNS PLAY A
FUNDAMENTAL ROLE IN SHAPING
NATURAL ECOSYSTEMS,ANDTHE
HUMAN ECONOMIES AND
CULTURESTHAT DEPEND ON
THEM.

5. BUTTHE CLIMATE
WE’VE COMETO
EXPECT IS NOT
WHAT IT USEDTO
BE, BECAUSETHE
PAST IS NO
LONGER A RELIABLE
PREDICTOR OFTHE
FUTURE.

6. RAPID CHANGES
Our climate is rapidly changing
with disruptive impacts, and that
change is progressing faster than
any seen in the last 2,000 years.
Source: http://www.ecy.wa.gov/climatechange/whatis.htm

7. IN SEPTEMBER 2014, BBC
NEWS ENVIRONMENT
CORRESPONDENT
RICHARD BLACKTRACED
KEY MILESTONES,
SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERIES,
TECHNICAL
INNOVATIONS AND
POLITICAL ACTIONTO
HELP UNDERSTANDTHE
HISTORY OF CLIMATE
CHANGE.
SOURCE: HTTP://WWW.BBC.COM/NEWS/SCIENCE-ENVIRONMENT-15874560

8. A BRIEF HISTORY OF CLIMATE
CHANGE:

9. 1712:THOMAS NEWCOMEN
INVENTS STEAM ENGINE
British ironmonger,Thomas
Newcomen invents the first
widely used steam engine, paving
the way for the Industrial
Revolution and industrial scale
use of coal.

10. 1800:WORLD
POPULATION
REACHES ONE
BILLION.

11. 1824 - FRENCH PHYSICIST JOSEPH FOURIER
DESCRIBES EARTH'S NATURAL "GREENHOUSE
EFFECT"
He writes: "The temperature [of
the Earth] can be augmented by
the interposition of the
atmosphere, because heat in the
state of light finds less resistance
in penetrating the air, than in re-
passing into the air when
converted into non-luminous
heat."

12. 1861 - IRISH PHYSICIST JOHNTYNDALL SHOWS
THAT WATERVAPOR & OTHER GASES CREATE
GREENHOUSE EFFECT
"This aqueous vapor is a blanket
more necessary to the vegetable
life of England than clothing is to
man," he concludes. More than a
century later, he is honored by
having a prominent UK climate
research organization - the
Tyndall Centre - named after him.

13. 1886 - KARL
BENZ UNVEILS
MOTORWAGEN

14. 1896 - SWEDISH CHEMIST SVANTE ARRHENIUS
CONCLUDESTHAT INDUSTRIAL-AGE COAL BURNING
WILL ENHANCE NATURAL GREENHOUSE EFFECT
He suggests this might be
beneficial for future generations.
His conclusions on the likely size
of the "man-made greenhouse"
are in the same ballpark - a few
degrees Celsius for a doubling of
CO2 - as modern-day climate
models.

15. 1900: KNUT ANGSTROM DISCOVERSTHAT CO2
STRONGLY ABSORBS PARTS OF INFRARED
SPECTRUM
Although he does not realize the
significance, Angstrom has shown
that a trace gas can produce
greenhouse warming.

16. 1927 - CARBON
EMISSIONS FROM
FOSSIL FUEL
BURNING &
INDUSTRY REACH
ONE BILLION
TONNES PER
YEAR.

17. 1930 - HUMAN
POPULATION
REACHESTWO
BILLION.

18. 1938 - BRITISH ENGINEER GUY CALLENDAR
SHOWSTHATTEMPERATURES HAVE RISEN
He also shows that CO2
concentrations had increased
over the same period, and
suggests this caused the warming.
The "Callendar effect" is widely
dismissed by meteorologists.

19. 1955 - US RESEARCHER GILBERT PLASS
ANALYSES INFRARED ABSORPTION OFVARIOUS
GASES
He concludes that doubling CO2
concentrations would increase
temperatures by 3-4C.

20. 1957 - US OCEANOGRAPHER ROGER REVELLE &
CHEMIST HANS SUESS SHOWTHAT SEAWATER
WILL NOT ABSORB CO2 ENTERING ATMOSPHERE
As many had assumed, Revelle
writes: "Human beings are now
carrying out a large scale
geophysical experiment..."

21. 1958 - CHARLES DAVID KEELING BEGINS
SYSTEMATIC MEASUREMENTS OF ATMOSPHERIC
CO2 AT MAUNA LOA IN HAWAII & ANTARCTICA
Within four years, the project -
which continues today - provides
the first unequivocal proof that
CO2 concentrations are rising.

22. 1960 - HUMAN
POPULATION
REACHESTHREE
BILLION.

23. 1965 - A US
PRESIDENT'S
ADVISORY
COMMITTEE PANEL
WARNSTHAT
GREENHOUSE
EFFECT IS A "REAL
CONCERN".

24. 1972 - FIRST UN ENVIRONMENT
CONFERENCE IN STOCKHOLM
Climate change hardly registers
on the agenda, which centers on
issues such as chemical pollution,
atomic bomb testing and whaling.
The United Nations Environment
Program (Unep) is formed as a
result.

25. 1975 - HUMAN
POPULATION
REACHES FOUR
BILLION.

26. 1975 - US SCIENTIST
WALLACE
BROECKER PUTS
TERM "GLOBAL
WARMING" INTO
PUBLIC DOMAIN IN
THETITLE OF A
SCIENTIFIC PAPER.

27. 1987 - HUMAN
POPULATION
REACHES FIVE
BILLION.

28. 1987 - MONTREAL PROTOCOL AGREEDTO
RESTRICT CHEMICALSTHAT DAMAGETHE
OZONE LAYER
Although not established with
climate change in mind, it has had
a greater impact on greenhouse
gas emissions than the Kyoto
Protocol.

29. 1988 -
INTERGOVERNME
NTAL PANEL ON
CLIMATE CHANGE
(IPCC) FORMED
TO COLLATE AND
ASSESS EVIDENCE
ON CLIMATE
CHANGE.

30. 1989 - MARGARETTHATCHER WARNS IN SPEECHTO UN:
“WE ARE SEEING A VAST INCREASE IN THE AMOUNT OF
CARBON DIOXIDE REACHING THE ATMOSPHERE…"
The result is that change in future
is likely to be more fundamental
and more widespread than
anything we have known
hitherto." She calls for a global
treaty on climate change.

31. 1989 - CARBON
EMISSIONS
FROM FOSSIL
FUEL REACH SIX
BILLION
TONNES PER
YEAR.

32. 1990 - IPCC FIRST ASSESSMENT
REPORT
It concludes that temperatures
have risen by 0.3-0.6C over the
last century, that humanity's
emissions are adding to the
atmosphere's natural complement
of greenhouse gases, and that the
addition would be expected to
result in warming.

33. 1992 - GOVERNMENTS AGREETHE UNITED
FRAMEWORK CONVENTION ON CLIMATE
CHANGE @ EARTH SUMMIT IN RIO DE JANEIRO
Its key objective is "stabilization
of greenhouse gas concentrations
in the atmosphere at a level that
would prevent dangerous
anthropogenic interference with
the climate system". Developed
countries agree to return their
emissions to 1990 levels.

34. 1995 - IPCC SECOND ASSESSMENT REPORT
CONCLUDES "A DISCERNIBLE HUMAN
INFLUENCE" ONTHE EARTH'S CLIMATE.
This has been called the first
definitive statement that humans
are responsible for climate
change.

35. 1997 - KYOTO PROTOCOL
AGREED
Developed nations pledge to
reduce emissions by an average of
5% by the period 2008-12, with
wide variations on targets for
individual countries. US Senate
immediately declares it will not
ratify the treaty.

36. 1998 - EL NINO COMBINES WITH GLOBAL
WARMINGTO PRODUCE WARMESTYEAR ON
RECORD
The average global temperature
reached 0.52C above the mean
for the period 1961-90 (a
commonly used baseline).

37. 1998 - PUBLICATION
OF CONTROVERSIAL
"HOCKEY STICK"
GRAPH INDICATING
MODERN-DAY
TEMPS HAVE RISEN
IN NORTHERN
HEMISPHERE OVER
LAST 1,000YEARS.

38. 1999 - HUMAN
POPULATION
REACHES SIX
BILLION.

39. 2001 -
PRESIDENT
GEORGE W
BUSH REMOVES
US FROM
KYOTO
PROCESS.

40. 2001 - IPCC THIRD
ASSESSMENT REPORT
FINDS "NEW &
STRONGER EVIDENCE"
THAT HUMANITY'S
EMISSIONS OF
GREENHOUSE GASES
ARE MAIN CAUSE OF
WARMING SEEN IN
SECOND HALF OF 20TH
CENTURY.

41. 2005 -THE KYOTO
PROTOCOL
BECOMES
INTERNATIONAL
LAW FOR
COUNTRIES STILL
INSIDE IT.

42. 2005 - UK PRIME
MINISTERTONY
BLAIR SELECTS
CLIMATE CHANGE
AS A PRIORITY FOR
HISTERMS AS
CHAIR OFTHE G8 &
PRESIDENT OF EU.

43. 2006 - STERN
REVIEW
CONCLUDES
THAT CLIMATE
CHANGE COULD
DAMAGE GLOBAL
GDP BY UPTO
20%.

44. 2006 - CARBON
EMISSIONS FROM
FOSSIL FUEL
BURNING AND
INDUSTRY REACH
EIGHT BILLION
TONNES PER
YEAR.

45. 2007 - IPCC'S FOURTH
ASSESSMENT REPORT
CONCLUDES ITS MORE
THAN 90% LIKELYTHAT
HUMANITY'S
EMISSIONS OF
GREENHOUSE GASES
ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR
MODERN-DAY CLIMATE
CHANGE.

46. 2007 - IPCC & FORMER USVICE-PRESIDENT
AL GORE RECEIVETHE NOBEL PEACE PRIZE
"for their efforts to build up and
disseminate greater knowledge
about man-made climate change,
and to lay the foundations for the
measures that are needed to
counteract such change".

47. 2007 - UN
NEGOTIATIONS IN
BALI LEADTOTHE
TWO-YEAR "BALI
ROADMAP" AIMED
TO CREATE NEW
GLOBALTREATY
BY END OF 2009.

48. 2008 - HALF A CENTURY
AFTER BEGINNING
OBSERVATIONS AT
MAUNA LOA,THE
KEELING PROJECT
SHOWSTHAT CO2
CONCENTRATIONS
HAVE RISEN
SIGNIFICANTLY FROM
1958 - 2008.

49. 2008 - PRESIDENT
BARACK OBAMA
PLEDGESTO
"ENGAGE
VIGOROUSLY"
WITHTHE REST OF
THE WORLD ON
CLIMATE CHANGE.

50. 2009 - CHINA
OVERTAKES US
AS WORLD'S
BIGGEST
GREENHOUSE
GAS EMITTER.

51. 2009 - COMPUTER
HACKERS DOWNLOAD
EMAILS FROM A SERVER
AT UNIVERSITY OF EAST
ANGLIA'S CLIMATIC
RESEARCH UNIT &
RELEASE ONTHE
INTERNET, LEADINGTO
THE "CLIMATEGATE"
AFFAIR.

52. 2010 - DEVELOPED COUNTRIES CONTRIBUTE
TOTHREE-YEAR DEALTO HELP "GREEN"
ECONOMIES & ADAPTTO CLIMATE IMPACTS
2010 - A series of reviews into
"ClimateGate" and the IPCC ask
for more openness, but clear
scientists of malpractice.
2010 - The UN summit in Mexico
does not collapse, as had been
feared, but ends with agreements
on a number of issues.

53. 2011 - HUMAN POPULATION
REACHES SEVEN BILLION
2011 - A new analysis of the
Earth's temperature record by
scientists concerned over the
"ClimateGate" allegations proves
the planet's land surface really has
warmed over the last century.
2011 - Data shows
concentrations of greenhouse
gases are rising faster than in
previous years.

54. 2012 - ARCTIC
SEA ICE
REACHES
RECORD LOW
SINCE SATELLITE
MEASUREMENTS
BEGAN IN 1979.

55. 2013 - FIRST PART OF
IPCC'S FIFTH
ASSESSMENT
REPORT SAYS
SCIENTISTS ARE 95%
CERTAINTHAT
HUMANS ARETHE
"DOMINANT CAUSE"
OF GLOBAL WARMING
SINCETHE 1950’S.

56. FOR MORE GLOBAL
NEWS & DISCUSSION,
VISIT JOHN SLIFKO’S
CIVIL SPHERE BLOG
SITE: HTTP://
CIVILSPHERE.NET/
Follow John Slifko on Twitter @JohnSlifko