I get a little crazy when I hear someone say there is no such thing as climate change.
They must be cozied up underneath some rock somewhere.
But here are some good numbers concerning this predicament.
According to a recent poll by the Pew Research Center, 72% of Americans believe that climate change is a serious problem. This is a significant increase from just a few years ago. Thankfully, it suggests that public awareness is growing.
Here are some other interesting findings from the poll:
90% of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents believe that climate change is a serious problem.
58% of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents believe that climate change is a serious problem.
77% of Americans believe that human activity is a major cause of climate change.
72% of Americans believe that the federal government should do more to address climate change.
It’s a problem. And until everyone gets on board about it, we are destroying ourselves at an alarming rate.
When I say “everyone,” I mean all the leaders of the major countries in the world. It is going to take all the big players to make the changes that will slow the destruction of the planet. I’m not sure there is any “saving” it at this point.
But here is something. Many smart people have known about this scourge for a long time.
One woman in particular had a clear picture of the problem. Her name was Eunice Foote.
Way back in 1856, Eunice Foote’s work was presented to a meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in Albany, New York. She was the first person to articulate the possibility of global warming from carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.
Who was this awesome woman? Eunice Foot was a scientist, inventor, women’s rights campaigner, wife, and mother. Among other things, I’m sure.
She wrote a comprehensive paper that year called “Circumstances affecting the heat of the sun’s rays.” In it, she argued that carbon dioxide and water vapor absorbed and held heat from the sun more readily than other gases. In other words, she explained global warming at a very basic level. She conducted experiments to illustrate the effects of carbon dioxide.
So earlier, I said her work was presented at a meeting of the AAAS. But here is the thing. She did not present it herself. She had a friend, Joseph Henry, present her paper in her place. She knew that a woman standing up there and putting this information forward to a bunch of men would not be taken seriously.
And Joseph Henry explained it to the council. Although, afterward, he admitted that he had difficulty in “interpreting the significance.”
And that was that.
A couple of years later, a man named John Tyndall came on the scene. Tyndall, a renowned Irish physicist, was originally credited with the discovery of carbon dioxide’s ability to absorb radiation. His first paper on the subject was published in 1859, three years after Foote’s.
I should mention, too, that there is no direct evidence that Tyndall ever read Foote’s work. Anyway, Tyndall’s experiment was more sophisticated and accurate than Ms. Foote’s. The work also accounted for the role of infrared radiation from Earth, as well as solar radiation from the sun.
His warnings gained more traction from listening ears. Tyndall was an insider. He was a respected member of prestigious European scientific circles.
The work of Foote, an amateur, and a woman, was largely forgotten. Her contribution to climate science was only rediscovered by scholars in 2011.
But the bottom line was, and is, both Tyndall and Foote reached the same fundamental conclusion: that increased CO2 in the atmosphere would increase Earth’s temperature.
And it did. And still does.
But don’t tell that to the unbelievers. Because even after all the damage we’ve seen, they still aren’t buying it. Sadly.
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“We won’t have a society if we destroy the environment.” – Margaret Mead
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“Climate change is the greatest threat to humanity, perhaps ever.” – Sir David Attenborough
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“The Earth does not belong to us. We belong to the Earth.” – Marlee Matlin
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Gassy? You better believe. The heat is on.
