Global warming began in the 18th century

glaciers, both in the northern and southern hemispheres, started melting in the mid-eighteenth century, triggered by climate change. Researchers from the Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology in Dehradun tracked the age of lichens (a composite organisms formed by the association of fungi and algae) that develop on glacial moraines and came up with this find. It contradicts previous conclusions which say that glaciers have been retreating for the last 20,000 years.

R K Chaujar, the lead author of the study, traced the advance and recession of the Chorabari glacier in Uttarakhand with the help of the lichen Rhizocarpon geographicum. He found that the glacier started retreating 258 years from now.