1977

The U.S. National Academy of Sciences releases a report that identifies a global warming trend caused by increased use of fossil fuels, and predicts that global temperatures could rise by 6 degrees Celsius by 2150 due to fossil fuel emissions.

The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) report, “Energy and Climate: Studies in Geophysics,” observes, “Examination of the possible long-term effects of energy use is particularly timely.  With the end of the oil age in sight, we must make long-term decisions as to future energy policies.  One lesson we have been learning is that the time required for transition from one major source to another is several decades.”  The findings, the NAS notes, “should lead neither to panic nor to complacency.”^*

^*National Academy of Sciences, Energy and Climate: Studies in Geophysics, 1977.  (Washington, DC:  GPO, 1977), vii-viii, http://www.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=12024&page=1