Three years after its first climate report, a second National Academy of Sciences report on anthropogenic warming, chaired by economist Thomas Schelling, stresses uncertainty about the extent and timing of climate changes In response to the Charney Report in 1979, the White House Office of Science and Technology asks the National Academy of Sciences to […]
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The Reagan Administration cuts energy R&D funding by more than half; numerous battles erupt in Congress over the Department of Energy’s attempts to reduce its climate research budget and the content of climate research programs; the Reagan Administrative is supportive, however, of two major developments related to climate policy: the international treaty to protect the […]
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A report of the Ad Hoc Study Group on carbon dioxide and climate for the National Research Council chaired by Massachusetts Institute of Technology meteorologist Jule Charney estimates “the most probable global warming for a doubling of CO2 to be near 3°C with a probable error of ± 1.5°C.” The forward to the 22-page “Charney Report” by […]
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President Jimmy Carter climbs to the roof of the White House to mark the installation of 32 solar panels to heat water for the White House At the dedication ceremony for the White House solar panels on June 20, 1979, President Carter announces a “new solar strategy,” to reach a goal to obtain 20% of […]
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The first World Climate Conference is organized by the United Nations and the World Health Organization The conference held in Geneva includes 350 specialists from 53 countries and 24 international organizations and from a wide range of disciplines including agriculture, water resources, fisheries, energy, environment, ecology, biology, medicine, sociology and economics. After two weeks of deliberations, […]
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The National Climate Program Act increases federal funding for climate research, under the National Climate Program Office of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration The law includes a Congressional finding that: “(1) Weather and climate change affect food production, energy use, land use, water resources and other factors vital to national security and human welfare. […]
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Senior Exxon Corporation scientist James F. Black advises Exxon’s Management Committee that CO2 from the world’s use of fossil fuels would warm the planet and could eventually endanger humanity At a meeting at Exxon Corporation’s headquarters, senior Exxon scientist James F. Black advises Exxon’s Management Committee that “… there is general scientific agreement that the […]
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President Jimmy Carter sends Congress a comprehensive National Energy Plan with 113 legislative proposals, including new taxes on automobiles, on utilities that burn oil or natural gas instead of coal, and a gasoline tax intended to create a floor on gasoline prices President Carter’s National Energy Plan is called “as ambitious and complex as any […]
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1977 The U.S. National Academy of Sciences releases a report that identifies a global warming trend caused by increased use of fossil fuels, and predicts that global temperatures could rise by 6 degrees Celsius by 2150 due to fossil fuel emissions. The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) report, “Energy and Climate: Studies in Geophysics,” observes, […]
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1976 Charles D. Keeling creates the “Keeling Curve,” a simple visualization of the longest continuous record of CO2 concentration in the world. A paper published by Charles D. Keeling of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography and coauthors in the journal Tellus, “Atmospheric carbon dioxide variations at Mauna Loa Observatory, Hawaii,” tracks increases in atmospheric carbon dioxide measured […]
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