On this day, August 8 1975 the first academic paper to use the term “global warming” was published
“Climatic Change: Are We on the Brink of a Pronounced Global Warming?”, Wallace S. Broecker, Science, 8 August 1975
Apparently Wally Broecker didn’t like having been the first and offered 200 bucks to anyone who could find an earlier instance.
Broecker, who has appeared on this site here in connection to an April 1980 letter he wrote to Democratic Senator Paul Tsongas, was a mensch.
On this day the atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration was 329.95 ppm. It is now 421ish, but see here for the latest.
Why this matters.
Articles like this helped people understand what was going on. By the late 1970s, we knew enough.
What happened next?
Broecker, and others, kept at it. It’s not the scientists who are to blame, imo. Oh well.