The Ecology Book

202

GLOBAL WARMING

ISN'T A PREDICTION.

IT IS HAPPENING.

GLOBAL WARMING

I

n 1896, Swedish chemist

Svante Arrhenius became

the first person to argue that

carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) emissions

caused by human beings could

lead to global warming. Arrhenius

thought that the average ground

temperature could be influenced

by carbon dioxide and other

“greenhouse gases,” as they are

now known, and believed that

increasing levels of CO 2 would

raise Earth’s temperature. More

specifically, he estimated that if

levels of carbon dioxide increased

by 2.5 to 3 times, Arctic regions of

the world would see temperature

increases of 14–16°F (8–9°C).

IN CONTEXT

KEY FIGURE

Svante Arrhenius

(1859 –1927)

BEFORE

1824 French physicist Joseph

Fourier suggests that Earth’s

atmosphere traps the Sun’s

heat like a greenhouse.

1859 Irish physicist John

Tyndall provides experimental

evidence to support earlier

hypotheses that atmospheric

gases absorb radiant heat.

AFTER

1976 American scientist

Charles Keeling proves that

between 1959 and 1971

carbon dioxide levels in the

atmosphere increased by

about 3.4 percent each year.

2006 In Field Notes from

a Catastrophe, journalist

Elizabeth Kolbert tells the

stories of people and places

impacted by climate change.

Some heat escapes

into space

Solar radiation

EARTH

SUN

Water vapor and other gases in Earth’s

atmosphere, such as carbon dioxide and

methane, trap heat from the Sun and

infrared radiation from Earth, raising

the planet’s temperature.

E

A

R

T

H

’S

A

T

M

O

SP

HE

RE

The greenhouse effect

Infrared radiation

Some heat is trapped

in the atmosphere

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