It seems like it has been a part of our lexicon forever!

Global warming whether you believe in it or not, is a term that has been around for a while.  It seems like people have argued both sides for years as well. The polarized sides either use it in conjunction with, the Environmental Movement, or Green House Gases, Climate Change, the need to take action, or on the other hand, a UN conspiracy theory, anti-oil, anti-capitalist, socialists, and old hippies banging the drum.

So Who is Right and Who is Wrong?

Guess what, the argument continues today, as well as the warming of the oceans, rising sea levels, rising Carbon dioxide levels, increasing severity of storms etc.  So I guess there is no right or wrong. People are still polarized.

It is what it is.

Climate change affects us all!

The argument will undoubtedly continue until enough time passes that the next generation must deal it.

But I digress…the Discussion I started here was to say Who Coined the Term and I might add When!

It was 1975 to answer the second part of the question.  The person who it is attributed to is Wallace Smith Broecker.

Wiki says…In 1975, Broecker inadvertently coined the phrase global warming when he published a paper titled: “Climate Change: Are we on the Brink of a Pronounced Global Warming?”^[10]

Besides the introduction of the Global Warming phrase, Broecker introduced to us the concept of the Ocean as a Conveyor Belt.

This concept it turns out may be the most important concept he ever thought of!

Here is what NOAA says about the Oceanic Conveyor Belt!

“Global climate change could disrupt the global conveyer belt, causing potentially drastic temperature changes in Europe and even worldwide.”

Read their full discussion at the following link…

http://oceanservice.noaa.gov/education/kits/currents/06conveyor3.html

The Ocean is a Conveyor Belt

NASA has a website called Oceanmotion.org. It is about all things concerning the oceans the global circulation.

The following is an excerpt from an article written by Edwin Schiele

Ocean surface currents redistribute heat around the world and have a profound effect on the world’s climate. Nowhere is this clearer than in the North Atlantic Ocean. The Gulf Stream and the North Atlantic Current ferry huge volumes of warm salty tropical water north to the Greenland coast and to the Nordic Seas. Heat radiating off of this water helps keep the countries of northwest Europe, which are at the same latitude as Labrador and Greenland, relatively comfortable places to live….

…Scientists call this density-driven component of the meridional overturning circulation the thermohaline circulation; thermo meaning heat and saline meaning salt. Without this density-driven process, deepwater currents would no longer be created. The global conveyor belt would grind to a halt.

For the full article by Mr. Schiele check out the following link….

http://oceanmotion.org/html/impact/conveyor.htm

Ocean Motion. Org goes on to say…

Certain currents (Atlantic) have weakened since the 1990s.

The continued melting of the Arctic Ice Cap (some scientists now forecast it will be gone as early as 2020). Will this be enough of a catalyst to severely impact the ocean current flows and cause a major cooling trend in Europe?

Frozen Europe

http://oceanmotion.org/html/impact/climate-variability.htm

It appears that the proper functioning of our oceans holds the key to weather events that will affect the globe for years.

Okay so back to Mr. Broecker

Broecker is a true climate visionary, Broecker’s areas of research include Pleistocene geochronology, radiocarbon dating and chemical oceanography, he has authored 450 journal articles and written 10 Books!  Read his biography in the link below…

http://www.ldeo.columbia.edu/vetlesen/recipients/1987/broecker_bio.html

So Now You Know How Global Warming got it’s Name!