Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
Source: Wikimedia Creative Commons, Mauna Loa Observatory
and hydrosphere. The second implication of
the Keeling Curve becomes apparent when it is
correlated with measures of global average
temperatures. The latest studies indicate that
average global temperatures have increased by
1.5 degrees Celsius over the last 250 years (Rohde
et al, 2012). As we explore below, while there
are many possible reasons why global average
temperatures may have increased so dramatically
over the last 250 years (including solar activity),
the work of Keeling (and the earlier work of
Arrhenius) suggest that it is connected to rising
levels of carbon dioxide in our atmosphere.
Later in this chapter we will discuss in more
detail the relationship between carbon dioxide
and climate change, and the controversies that still
surround discussions of climate change. But before
this, it is important to reflect upon other ways in
which humans have been reshaping the content of
the atmosphere and the ways in which the global
atmospheric system works.
3.2.2 Smoke, nuisance and the
industrial atmosphere
When positioned in relation to the history of
human-atmosphere relations, climate change
is a relatively new manifestation of the problems
associated with air pollution. The first clear signs
of concern over human-induced air pollution can
actually be traced back to fourteenth-century
England (Brimblecombe, 1987). In 1306 King
Edward I passed a Royal Proclamation banning the
burning of sea coal in furnaces. This Proclamation
was a response to the air pollution problems that
were being generated in London by the growth of
small-scale industrial premises in the metropolis
(Whitehead, 2009). Unconfirmed reports suggest
that in 1307 one resident of the city of London
was executed as a consequence of disobeying the
Proclamation. In many ways the Royal Pro-
clamation of 1306 was a precursor to a long period
of localized air pollution problems that were
For an engaging discussion of the science
and politics of climate change watch the
former US Vice President Al Gore's film
An Inconvenient Truth.
