Teller was one of the first prominent people to warn about the dangers of climate change

Teller was one of the first prominent people to warn about the dangers of climate change caused by the use of fossil fuels. Teller warned the American Chemical Society membership in December 1957 that the large amount of carbon-based fuel that had been burned since the mid-nineteenth century was increasing the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, which would act in the same way as a greenhouse and raise the temperature at the surface, and that he had calculated that if the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere increased by 10% an appreciable increase in temperature at the surface.

Edward Teller warned about several environmental concerns occurring in 1959, during a symposium organized by the American Petroleum Institute and the Columbia Graduate School of Business to commemorate the centennial of the American oil industry. He claimed that anytime conventional fuel is burned, carbon dioxide is produced. Carbon dioxide has an unusual feature. It transmits visible light but absorbs infrared heat released by the earth. Because of its presence in the atmosphere, it generates a greenhouse effect. It has been calculated that a temperature increase equal to a 10% increase in carbon dioxide will be enough to melt the icecap and drown New York. He claims that all coastal cities would be affected and because a sizable portion of the human population lives in coastal areas, he believes that the chemical contamination is more dangerous than most people assume.