Chapter 2 - Historical perspectives on climate change and its influence on nature

Abstract

In 1896, Svante Arrhenius, a Swedish scientist, published a novel idea that suggested burning of fossil fuels added carbon dioxide gas into Earth's atmosphere, which likely result in long-term variations in our planet's climate. Since then, the concept of climate change and global warming continued to develop. Currently, climate scientists have high confidence that Earth's changing climate is expected to make our planet warmer, raise sea level and influence precipitation patterns. In many regions across the globe, changes in extreme weather related events, such as floods, storms, heat waves and droughts are already been observed. However, there are uncertainties about the spatial and temporal patterns of temperature and precipitation, intensities and frequencies of droughts, cyclones and floods. The extent to which our planet's future climate will shift due to the influences of anthropogenic activities remains unclear. Social science research indicates that the most common misconception about climate change is that it is a new concept and that the threat of global warming began toward the end of the 20th century. Historically people have been aware that anthropogenic activities could change the local climate, however, whether the environmental changes were viewed as a natural or anthropogenic process depended primarily on the philosophy of the time. In many countries, climate change has been discussed from a cultural and religious viewpoints and considerable attention has been devoted to the role of humans as stewards of Earth's environment. Additionally, the differences in public opinions on changing climate and its deleterious effects on nature may have been influenced by socio-economic variables, political philosophy or depth of scientific knowledge. This chapter presents a historical perspective on climate change and its influence on natural environment.