On this day, October 18 in 1983,
“On October 18, 1983, all three U.S. television networks ran two-minute stories on the greenhouse effect, and CBS and ABC placed their stories at or near the top of the news programs. What had happened? The Environmental Protection Agency had issued a report analyzing the impact of the greenhouse effect on the temperature of the earth. CBS and ABC featured John Hoffman of the EPA urging that preparations be made for the future.”
Sachsman 2000
[The amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere was 340.53ppm. At time of writing it was 421ishppm- but for what it is now,well, see here for the latest.]
The context was this – That day had seen the release of a National Academy of Science report that tried to cast doubt on the imminence of human-induced climate change, in contradiction to, well, all the other reports, including the Environmental Protection Agency one of the same time.
(There has been a “battle of the articles” between Orsekes et al and Nierenberg et al about all this. Buy me a beer and I will give you my two cents).
NB In 1983 everyone terrified of nuclear war Nobody had much left over fear for carbon dioxide molecules…
Why this matters.
Different interests will try to cloak themselves in the mantle of Neutral Science. Be ready!
What happened next?
The NAS report didn’t really have much impact in the scientific community, best I can tell. The meetings kept happening, the papers kept getting written. By October 1985 in Villach…