Editing 2889: Greenhouse Effect
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==Explanation== | ==Explanation== | ||
+ | {{incomplete|Created by CREATING CRETACEOUS PARK - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}} | ||
+ | This comic has [[:Category:Climate change|climate change]] as its topic, a recurring theme on xkcd. There is no 'joke' <em>per se</em>, instead the comic represents a wry (and serious) observation on the disconnect between the facts of climate change, as we currently understand them, and popular perception of those facts. The fact in question here is when science became aware of anthropogenic global warming and its primary cause. | ||
− | + | The comic depicts a timeline with three events: | |
+ | *The advent of the {{w|Industrial Revolution}}, marked by the introduction of the {{w|Watt steam engine}} by {{w|James Watt}} in 1776 | ||
+ | *The [https://courses.seas.harvard.edu/climate/eli/Courses/EPS281r/Sources/Greenhouse-effect/Arrhenius/3-optional-Crawford-1997.pdf first quantitative prediction] of the {{w|greenhouse effect}} by {{w|Arvid Högbom}} and {{w|Svante Arrhenius}} in 1896 | ||
+ | *The present day, early 2024. | ||
− | + | As the comic's caption points out, less time has elapsed between the start of the Industrial Revolution and the work by Högbom and Arrhenius, than has elapsed since Högbom and Arrhenius published their work. Moreover, present-day climate discussions may cite [https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.2153-3490.1957.tb01849.x a 1957 paper by Revell and Seuss] as "the starting point" for inquiries into global warming. This "starting point" is shown to be (at least) 61 years prior to Revell and Seuss. | |
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− | + | The implication, which is consistent with other [[:Category:Climate change|climate change]] themed xkcd comics, is that humans have taken insufficient action to slow or stop global warming despite knowing the mechanism for more than a century, and understanding, at least intellectually, the consequences of inaction. | |
− | + | The title text portrays Arrhenius as dismissive of his work, calling it "trivial". A reading of the reference cited (page 8 in [https://courses.seas.harvard.edu/climate/eli/Courses/EPS281r/Sources/Greenhouse-effect/Arrhenius/3-optional-Crawford-1997.pdf Crawford 1997]) suggests instead that Arrhenius was complaining about the unanticipated difficulty of answering what he thought initially was a simple question, about the historical (geological time) connection between carbon dioxide concentrations and global temperature. Per this reading, Arrhenius's complaint was about the work required to achieve the result, <em>not</em> about the significance of the result. His interpretation of the significance, though, differs from today's consensus (page 11 in Crawford 1997): "[Global warming will] allow our descendants, even if they only be those of a distant future,to live under a warmer sky and in a less harsh environment than we were granted". | |
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− | The title text portrays Arrhenius as dismissive of his work. A reading of the reference cited (page 8 in [https://courses.seas.harvard.edu/climate/eli/Courses/EPS281r/Sources/Greenhouse-effect/Arrhenius/3-optional-Crawford-1997.pdf Crawford 1997] | ||
==Transcript== | ==Transcript== |