Climate change first 'went viral' exactly 70 years ago
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Friday, May 12, 2023
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UK prime minister Margaret Thatcher warned of a giant experiment being conducted “with the system of this planet itself”.
Key Points:
- UK prime minister Margaret Thatcher warned of a giant experiment being conducted “with the system of this planet itself”.
- But it was actually 35 years before that – fully 70 years ago this month – that the danger of carbon dioxide build-up in the atmosphere first travelled around the world.
- In 1938 English steam engineer Guy Callendar suggested to the Royal Society in London that warming was under way.
- He looked at how carbon dioxide actually functions in the real world, not just at sea level (without getting too technical.
- Every year, as we burn more oil, coal and gas, the concentration climbs and more heat is trapped.
- There’s a very good chance we will have gone over the 2°C warming level that used to be regarded as “safe”.