1980's

this is a tag?node is eightiesIn 1980, <a id="L_0365" name="L_0365"> </a>scientists announced a new theory for what had killed off the dinosaurs tens of millions of years ago: an asteroid had struck the Earth and clouded the atmosphere for years, freezing plants and animals. The theory fascinated the public, perhaps less because it addressed dinosaurs than because it addressed extinction. That struck a resonance with deep-set fears of nuclear war, which had revived around the time Reagan took office. As one scientist remarked, the asteroid theory "commanded belief because it fit with what we are prepared to believe... Like everyone else... I carry within my consciousness the images of mushroom clouds." The idea of global extinction caused by a blast coming from the sky, he said, "feels right because it fits so neatly into the nightmares that project our own demise."<a id="M_88" name="M_88"> </a><a href="http://www.aip.org/history/climate/public2.htm#N_88_">(88)</a>

On Hallowe'en <a id="L_0364" name="L_0364"> </a>1983, a group of respected atmospheric scientists held a press conference to make a carefully orchestrated announcement about a different climate catastrophe. They had come to fear that soot from cities torched in a nuclear war might blacken the atmosphere as much as an asteroid strike. Years of cold and dark might jeopardize the survival of all humankind. Didn't that prove that launching a nuclear attack, even if the other side never fired back, would be literally suicidal? So maintained a group of well-known experts, including West Europeans and Russians as well as Americans, and most prominently Carl Sagan — a chief spokesperson for the group because his fame, much more as an astronomy popularizer than as an atmospheric scientist, could attract television cameras. The scientists' aim was frankly political. They meant to reinforce a public movement that was just then calling on the United States to reduce its inventory of bombs. Meanwhile the announcement added another layer to public imagination of calamitous global climate change.

<table><tbody><tr><td valign="top" bgcolor="#ddffff"><=<a href="http://www.aip.org/history/climate/Winter.htm#L_0364">World winter</a></td></tr><tr><td>Other scientists<a id="L_0418" name="L_0418"> </a>questioned the scientific reasoning, and the Reagan administration heaped scorn on its critics. Even before the scientific study was published, government scientists among the authors felt pressure to keep a low profile. The pressure backfired. Forbidden to include the words "nuclear war" in the title of their paper, one of them came up with an evocative phrase — "nuclear winter." Sagan and others battled their critics in sharp partisan debate. From the outset, a person's views on the climate scientists' predictions could usually be guessed from the person's views about nuclear disarmament. Newspapers, magazines, and even television gave the battle close attention. From this point on, computer calculations of the effects of dust and the fragility of the atmosphere were inescapably entangled in national politics.<a id="M_89" name="M_89"> </a><a href="http://www.aip.org/history/climate/public2.htm#N_89_">(89)</a></td></tr></tbody></table>

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<a id="T038" name="T038" style="outline: none;">1977 cooling over, consensus on warming

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1981

<a id="T050" name="T050" style="font-weight: bold; outline: none;"> </a>Election of Reagan brings backlash against environmental movement to power. Political conservatism is linked to skepticism about global warming. =><a href="http://www.aip.org/history/climate/Govt.htm#L_M050" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">Government</a>

IBM Personal Computer introduced. Advanced economies are increasingly delinked from energy.<a id="T016" name="T016" style="outline: none;"> </a>

Hansen and others show that sulfate aerosols can significantly cool the climate, raising confidence in models showing future greenhouse warming. =><a href="http://www.aip.org/history/climate/aerosol.htm#L_M016" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">Aerosols</a><a id="T054" name="T054" style="font-weight: bold; outline: none;"> </a>

Some scientists predict greenhouse warming "signal" should be visible by about the year 2000. =><a href="http://www.aip.org/history/climate/20ctrend.htm#L_M054" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">Modern temp's</a>

1984 Heartland founded (PM tobacco)

1987 montreal ~cfc

1988: UN sets up a scientific authority to vet the evidence on global warming, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).  B1 elected

Denialspere really kicked in 1988  Thatcher says real, Hansen testifies to congress; media consolidation

Bush 1 elected 1988, lost 1992

1989 GCC founded, Berlin wall falls, GMI sees green as new red

1990: First IPCC report says levels of man-made greenhouse gases are increasing in the atmosphere and predicts these will cause <a id="KonaLink1" target="undefined" class="kLink" href="http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/climate-change-a-timeline-2145309.html#" style="font-weight: bold; outline: none; position: static;">global warming</a>.

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