Member-only story
Noah Webster’s Influence Went Beyond Writing a Dictionary
He’s also responsible for halting climate talks for 190 years
Global warming dominates today’s headlines — and for a good reason. It’s one subject that will affect every single thing alive today and, presumably, for centuries to come. Future generations will probably condemn us for not doing more to stop or even slow climate change down.
Knowing the blame will fall on our shoulders, I’m curious about the generations that came before us. Were they oblivious to the inevitable repercussions of their choices? Or did they see the errors in their ways but decide to continue the same path anyway, like us? How long has this been going on?
At Least Since the 1700s
As far as I can tell, serious conversations in the United States about global warming started over 200 years ago. Consider this, within days of signing the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson started recording weather fluctuations twice a day, and continued for 50 years!
In 1787, Jefferson wrote a book called Notes on the State of Virginia, which included discussions of the climate in both the United States as a whole and his home state of Virginia. Near the end of one chapter regarding wind, rain, and temperature, Jefferson…
