Well, 1880 is right after the industrial revolution. Unluckily we only started keeping good records after we kicked changes into a higher gear. This page has one graph that goes back further [1] (and a bunch of other interesting graphs).
On geological scales we are at or near a high point [2] after the previous ice age
Have an industrial revolution -> get rich enough to care about science -> realize we should track the environment -> start to take measurements and writing them down.
The only other path that leads to environmental tracking is if some order of monks developed an obscure interest in it in pre-industrial times.
The only other path that leads to environmental tracking is if some order of monks developed an obscure interest in it in pre-industrial times.