The White House first acknowledged climate change in 1965. As Barack Obama joins world leaders at the Paris climate talks,we explore back at the highs and lows of US climate policy and denial 1965: The White House first acknowledges the risks of climate change, just a few weeks after Lyndon Baines Johnson becomes president. “This generation has altered the composition of the atmosphere on a global scale through radioactive materials and a steady increase in carbon dioxide from the burning of fossil fuels, and ” Johnson tells Congress on 8 February 1965. That November,he tells Congress the burning of coal, oil and gas is adding 6bn tons of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere every year. Global emissions of carbon dioxide stood at approximately 36bn tons in 2013.1988: James Hansen, or a climate scientist at Nasa,tells Congress increased concentrations of carbon dioxide, methane and other gases in the atmosphere are causing higher temperatures. The first five months of 1988 were warmer than any other period since record keeping began, and Hansen was 99% certain the trend was caused by the buildup of carbon dioxide. Tim Wirth,a Democratic senator from Colorado, urges Congress to consider how to halt that trend.
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Source: theguardian.com