Ask the Weather Guys: Who first suggested human activities could change our climate?

[Scuba]

http://host.madison.com/wsj/news/local/ask/weather-guys/ask-the-weather-guys-who-first-suggested-human-activities-could/article_58f991e6-59bc-11e1-984e-0019bb2963f4.html

Svante Arrhenius, a Swedish scientist, is probably the first scientist to propose that burning of fossil fuels could modify our global temperatures. In 1896, Arrhenius recognized that carbon dioxide, a byproduct of burning carbon substances such as natural gas, gasoline and oil, would act like a greenhouse gas.

...

Greenhouse gases occur naturally in the atmosphere. If we did not have greenhouse gases, Earth's average temperature would be about 60 degrees colder than it is now.

Too much greenhouse gases, on the other hand, could lead to a hotter planet. Venus is an example of how large concentrations of greenhouse gases — carbon dioxide in its case — can lead to a very hot planet. The large concentrations of carbon dioxide on Venus result in an average surface temperature of about 600 degrees.

Arrhenius, a chemist, postulated that adding carbon dioxide through human activities could lead to a warmer Earth. He estimated that global temperatures could rise as much as 10 degrees.

[Schema Thing]

1. Yes, I'm always quick to point out in debate that this is a 100 year old + theory

that has been confirmed every year with every new bit of data for 100 years.

[libinnyandia]

2. But the Bible doesn't say anything about:o)