His book Worlds in the making ( 1908 ) was directed at a general audience . He suggested that the human emission of CO2 would be strong enough to prevent the world from entering a new ice age , and that a warmer earth would be needed to feed the rapidly increasing population : : `` To a certain extent the temperature of the earth 's surface ... is ( related to ) the atmosphere surrounding it , and particularly by the permeability of the latter for the rays of heat '' . He later wrote VÃ rldarnas utveckling ( 1906 ) , German translation : Das Werden der Welten ( 1907 ) , English translation : Worlds in the Making ( 1908 ) directed at a general audience , where he suggested that the human emission of CO2 would be strong enough to prevent the world from entering a new ice age , and that a warmer earth would be needed to feed the rapidly increasing population : : `` To a certain extent the temperature of the earth 's surface , as we shall presently see , is conditioned by the properties of the atmosphere surrounding it , and particularly by the permeability of the latter for the rays of heat . ''