How long has global warming and climate change been going on for?

Question

how long has it been going on for

what year did this all start and when was people worrying

about it.

Answer 1

Always happened.

Answer 2

You are asking two different questions here.

1) Climate Change - has been going on now for about 4 billion years

2) Global warming has been going on for about half this time i.e. two billion years in total - the other two billion years involved cooling.

If you intended to discuss man made global warming then the answer will depend on who you ask. Many people will tell you that this has not yet been proved - others will suggest that it started with the industrial revolution in the late 19th Century.

Answer 3

I think it began with the industrial revoulution and the high volume of consumed fossil fuels

Answer 4

Climate change is a never-ending, natural process and has been happening since the formation of the atmosphere around the early earth.

However, climate change over the last few hundred years has been affected by human activity.  The warming effect of burning of 'greenhouse gases' is accelerating the climate change to dangerous levels.

Man-made (anthropogenic) climate change / warming can be traced back to when prehistoric man moved away from hunter / gatherer to agriculture and started clearing forests - about 20,000 years ago.  Most of Europe was covered by forest and was gradually cleared over the following centuries.  A similar process has happened in North America over the last few centuries with the arrival of European settlers.  The next victim of the 'human termite' is the South American rain forests which are currently being cleared at an alarming rate.

With the advent of the Industrial Revolution (1800s) and rapidly increasing populations, the production of CO2 and other greenhouse gases (GHGs) began to increase.  Production of GHGs has accelerated rapidly over the last 50 years.  CO2 levels are now at 381 parts per million (ppm) - 100ppm above the pre-industrial average.  That's higher than we've been for over a million years, possibly 30 million years. Mankind is changing the climate.

The Scripps Institution of Oceanography first identified the problem of increasing CO2 emissions in the 1950s.  It wasn't until the formation of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in 1988 that the scientific community began to inform politicians and the public about the dangers of global warming.

Because of widespread denial and political weakness, little has been done about the problem.  Also, a large propaganda campaign by Exxon Mobil and other energy companies have fooled many people in to believing global warming is a 'hoax' or a 'mistake' or that there is no scientific consensus.

Answer 5

It seems one of the explanations for the extinction of Dinosaurs is held in some kind of global climate change.  This being true then it would make sense that it has been happening forever.

Answer 6

Anthropogenic global warming started aroung the beginning of the industrial revolution.  Before then, we only have evidence of natural factors affecting climate.  But since the industrial revolution, with the widespread use of coal and other fossil fuels as well as the changes in landscape and agricultre since then, humans have become a major factor influencing the climate.  Link to an easy to read reference from the US national Academies of Science:

http://dels.nas.edu/basc/climate-change/

Answer 7

every 600,000 years or so the earth stops and spins in the opposite direction, this brings about huge climate change

what we can expect from this sudden shift is huge climate change on a global level...i am not exactly sure what the effects would be but i think we'd have freak weather, a lot of floods, earthquakes, tsunamis, tornados, etc

so you see climate change happens naturally.

but to better answer your question i believe the current global warming problem is down to 200 years of fossil burning

people also are not aware that one of the other main contributors to this global warming is the fast food companies who demand more and more beef every year and the farmers have to breed more and more, these cows f**t and produce methane and this is what speeds up global warming...sounds ridiculous but on a global scale each cow farting amounts of billions and billions of tons of methane being released into the air

Answer 8

Everyone says different...

Ages though.

Answer 9

Since the beginning of the planet about 4.6 billion years ago. i think anyway..

We have been changing climate for years, global warming is a good thing, if it didnt exhist there is a possibility we wuld b in a planet like mars.. not much of an atmosphere it wuld b 2 cold for humans to live in, people started worrying because the rate of global warming has picked up and it is having effects on our planet that usually occur over a longer period of time.. we need to either decrease teh rate back to normal or just adapt to the changes

Answer 10

200 million years

Answer 11

Climate change and global warming periods are as old as the planet. The climate goes through natural cycles where the climate warms or cools to one extent or another.

As for the human influence, concern over this started in the late 70's. The debate about just how much the human factor is influencing climate change is still raging.

Answer 12

Since the beginning of the planet.

In the last century some scientists began thinking, with typical scientific arrogance, that man was causing it, and the politicians latched onto it when they saw the fear.  Fear is a great way to get people to voluntarily give up their freedoms and money.

Answer 13

forever  - the  hype drummed up about climate change is ridiculous and is set to panic people.   Just because it inconveniences  Humans, we  take it personally  The Earth doesn't know we even exist and cares even less.  We should be more concerned how we treat the planet than how it treats us!

There have been many Ice Ages and there will be many more.  We are overdue for the Poles to flip which may have some bearing as well as Sun activity.  We may damage the environment we live in by polluting it and over-using natural resources, but a super volcanic eruption will cause more damage and change the climate more than we could ever do!

Answer 14

Since the Industrial Revolution..

Search industrial revolution on a search engine and it'll tell you..

Answer 15

climate change and global warming are natural processes, they have been happenin for millions of years. but if yur talking about man made climate change, or man assisted climate change, then probable since the industrial revolution

Answer 16

The current warming trend started about 18,000 years ago. Lucky for us, otherwise half the earth would be covered in ice (which it will be again). Notice in the graph how the warming trend occurs about every 120,000 years. Also notice that the warm periods last for about 25,000 years. The current warming trend has persisted for about 20,000 year. So we can only hope we have another 5,000 years. Another interesting point is that of the 5 major warm periods (you may say that around 200,000 years ago was a sixth), the current one is cooler than all the others. One final point, the warming early in the cycle is much more drastic than our current warming trend. After looking at this graph, it is hard not to laugh at all pro AGW loons (I personally laugh at them pretty consistently).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Ice_A...

Answer 17

All objects LOSE Heat!  So from the beginning of Earth (a molten blob billions of years ago) the Earth is in a very long term cooling!

If you mean the Global Warming Movement - It was formulated  October 26-29, 1975 at the ‘Endangered Atmosphere’ Conference.

The conference was fairly complete and outlined how the movement was to be controlled and what to do about any resistance.

http://www.21stcenturysciencetech.com/Ar...

Answer 18

since the formation of our planet it has constantly cooled and warmed up, currently we are in a warming period this will end the present ice age (any period of time when ice is present at the poles) as for when people started worrying about it, well humans have always been worried by the various temperatures the planet go's through, for hunting or farming the weather is the key factor, it just that there is a lot of money involved (taxes etc) and a lot more media hype, (anything to sell news). so the next time we have a round of green taxes ask yourself is this going to stop a whole planet heating up? or is it to line the pockets of greedy politicians and news moguls?

Answer 19

You can get the full results of ice core samples, by the B.A.S.(British Antartic Survey)By applying to H.M.Stationary Office,but in general the climate has peaks & troughs in 42 A.D there was a CO peak so the Romans must have been driving Gas Guzzlers in the early 1500s there was a trough the the Thames froze to Tilberry So that must have been the start of the 3rd Great ice Age, then of course in the 70s the massive holes in the Ozone layer were discovered which were obviously caused by the Nuclear Weapons tests of the 50s & 60s & today CO levels are really high which is caused by excess of Bullshit that our politico's talk!

Answer 20

4500,000,000 years, give or take!

Answer 21

Global  Warming - the Gordon Brown myth to raise taxes.

NO such thing - it is Earths own natural cycle that occurs every few thousand years.

YES - we aren't helping but - our input is minimal - even top scientists agree.

Answer 22

Since before the dinosaurs and probably after after mankind has gone, it will right it's self. codger.