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During the time of the ancient Greeks, many people believed that humans could affect temperatures and rain by cutting down trees, plowing fields or irrigating a desert
(https://www.history.com/topics/natural-disasters-and-environment/history-of-climate-change) -
The history of global warming
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He suggested that Earth’s thin covering of air, its atmosphere, acts the way a glass greenhouse would. Energy enters through the glass walls, but is then trapped inside, much like a warm greenhouse.
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John Tyndall speculated that in the 1860s, coal gas (containing CO2, methane and volatile hydrocarbons) might absorb energy especially efficiently. He revealed that solely CO2 absorbed sunlight's different wavelengths, acting like a sponge.
[https://www.history.com/topics/natural-disasters-and-environment/history-of-climate-change] -
Dr. Charles Keeling, a Scripps geochemist, was instrumental in devising a method for recording CO2 concentrations and in securing funding for the observatory. This was later known as the Keeling Curve. The upward, saw-toothed curve indicated an upward current in CO2, along with short, sharp ups and downs in the level of this gas.[https://www.history.com/topics/natural-disasters-and-environment/history-of-climate-change] -
Scientists in the early 1970s theorized that air pollution could block sunlight and cause Earth's climate to cool. As more people worried about pollution in the atmosphere, some scientists theorized that pollution could cause Earth to cool.
[https://www.history.com/topics/natural-disasters-and-environment/history-of-climate-change] -
The number of scientists sounding the alarm about climate change grew, resulting in media attention and the public taking notice. NASA scientist James Hansen gave testimony in Congress in June 1988 and told them he was "99 percent certain" that global warming was happening.
[https://www.history.com/topics/natural-disasters-and-environment/history-of-climate-change] -
![Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change[IPCC] was established](https://s3.amazonaws.com/s3.timetoast.com/public/uploads/photo/18830717/image/medium-13bc552abdaf4269f01a67b6b3a15589.jpg?X-Amz-Algorithm=AWS4-HMAC-SHA256&X-Amz-Credential=AKIAJB6ZCNNAN7BE7WDQ%2F20250917%2Fus-east-1%2Fs3%2Faws4_request&X-Amz-Date=20250917T221456Z&X-Amz-Expires=604800&X-Amz-SignedHeaders=host&X-Amz-Signature=f9ea8a9ba848f05c8d03bd714d8e4f748c68e617962d57823d769b4c1c789271)
Scientists examined the effects of a warming climate as global warming became recognized as a real phenomenon. Among these predictions were an increase in heat waves, droughts, and more powerful hurricanes due to rising sea surface temperatures.
[https://www.history.com/topics/natural-disasters-and-environment/history-of-climate-change] -
In order to prevent the most dire predicted outcomes, government leaders began discussing ways to stem the outflow of greenhouse gas emissions. The Kyoto Protocol was adopted in 1997 as the first international agreement to combat greenhouse gases.
[https://www.history.com/topics/natural-disasters-and-environment/history-of-climate-change] -
The Paris Climate Agreement was founded on a pledge to prevent a global temperature increase of 2 degrees C (3.6 degrees F). Many experts have considered 2 degrees Celsius of warming to be a critical limit, which, if exceeded, will increase the risk of more deadly heat waves, droughts, storms, and rising sea levels.
[https://www.history.com/topics/natural-disasters-and-environment/history-of-climate-change] -
Climate activist Greta Thunberg began a protest against global warming in August 2018 in front of the Swedish Parliament with the message, "School Strike for Climate." Her protest caught the attention of the world, and by November 2018, over 17,000 students had taken part in climate strikes in 24 countries.
[https://www.history.com/topics/natural-disasters-and-environment/history-of-climate-change]