Report prepared by advisory committee and presented in November 1965 to US President Lyndon B. Johnson warned, that releasing carbon dioxide into the atmosphere would lead to higher global temperatures, causing ice caps to melt and sea levels to rise rapidly. Report accurately predicted that the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere would increase by close to 25% over the course of the twentieth century. Another landmark report, the 1979 “Carbon Dioxide and Climate: A Scientific Assessment”, prepared by the US National Academy of Sciences, estimated that doubling the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere would warm the earth by about 3° Celsius – a number that is well confirmed today.
And yet, despite 50 years of growing scientific consensus, the warming of the earth continues unabated. Well-funded lobby groups have sowed doubt among the public and successfully downplayed the urgency of the threat. World leaders must seize the opportunity in Paris, set aside their short-term interests, and finally act decisively to avert a looming planetary catastrophe. Read more at http://www.project-syndicate.org/
