Global Atmosphere Watch was mere scientific interest, but of course, many scientists eventually wondered what effects these trace chemicals could have on the atmosphere, and on life. The GAW's genesis began as far back as the 1950s when the World Meteorological Organization began a programme of monitoring the atmosphere for trace chemicals, and also researching air pollution from a meteorological point of view. They were also responsible for monitoring ozone, establishing the Global Ozone Observing System (GO3OS) in 1957, in the International Geophysical Year. In 1968, the United Nations called for an international conference to address world environmental problems caused by rapid industrialization.
Carbon dioxide in Earth's atmosphere animal, life on land will die off altogether, since by that time most of the remaining carbon in the atmosphere will be sequestered underground, and natural releases of by radioactivity-driven tectonic activity will have continued to slow down. The loss of plant life would also result in the eventual loss of oxygen. Some microbes are capable of photosynthesis at concentrations of of a few parts per million and so the last life forms would probably disappear finally due to the rising temperatures and loss of the atmosphere when the sun becomes a red giant some four billion years from now.