Two hundred and fifty five years ago, on this day, March 21, 1768, French scientist Joseph Fourier was born.
The amount of carbon dioxide in the air was roughly 280ishppm. As of 2023 it is 419ppm, but check here for daily measures.
The context was
Why am I talking about some 18th 19th century French scientist? Because he is the one who’s credited with pointing out that if you look at how far the Earth sits from the sun, and how much heat hits us, and what the temperature of our planet is, then something is trapping a certain amount of the heat.
Fourier was an interesting character you can read more about on his Wikipedia page, and also here.
What I think we can learn from this
We have to understand that the idea of a greenhouse effect, not the theory, or use of the term was not invented by Al Gore, Greta Thunberg. It is basic 19th century physics. It is not controversial. And anyone who wants to make it controversial, is clearly trying to sell you Sydney Harbour Bridge for whatever reason.
What happened next
1n 1824 he first published on this stuff. Snuffed in 1830.
What do you think? Does this pass the ‘so what?’ threshold? Have I got facts wrong? Interpretation wrong? Please do comment on this post, unless you are a denialist, obvs..