"It has been proved that the temperature at the earth's surface is dependent upon conditions of the atmosphere, and that the universal tropical climate that produced the Coal Age was not due to the earth's internal heat. If we briefly examine the Coal Age we may be enlightened and assisted in our investigations. Enormous quantities of carbon dioxide mingled with the air of that period... Man has consumed the forests. Each year he mines, in the United States alone, two hundred million tons of coal. He has tapped the tanks of petroleum and the founts of gas, and is oxidizing it all - all that vast quantity of carbon - converting it into carbon dioxide...and now we find that the product has accumulated over the surface of the earth and is wielding an influence that is assimilating our climatic conditions more and more to those of the age of coal. ... I advance the theory, that the increased amounts of carbon dioxide that have gathered from all sources into our atmosphere produce, as I have described, the change in the weather and climate of recent years..." - G.W. Furey, M.D., Medical and Surgical Reporter, Volume 63, published in 1890
The initial public record is not that relevant. More importantly, during the 50s scientists had already begun to agree global warming is a serious, occurring issue.
Compared to other issues, however, like the depletion of the ozone layer later on, measures against climate change have had to deal with the oil industry the entire world is still relying on.
