The great French mathematician Joseph Fourier first identified the “greenhouse effect” in 1824. And 72 years later, Swedish scientist Svante Arrhenius quantified the impact of atmospheric carbon on global temperatures, and pointed to the role of fossil fuels in so doing.

Sure, it wasn’t until NASA director James Hansen’s 1988 US Senate testimony that the concept of “global warming” entered the zeitgeist. But scientists have known about human-made climate change for a couple of centuries.