Sixty three years ago, on this day, March 22, 1960, viewers of a major US news channel were informed about carbon dioxide build-up and its implications.
“The Mysterious Deep” aired on March 22 and April 3, 1960, and is an important documentary for reasons beyond its music: First, it contains one of the earliest American television interviews with legendary explorer Jacques-Yves Cousteau, whose UNDERSEA WORLD OF JACQUES COUSTEAU would later revolutionize TV’s approach to oceanography; and second, for its remarkably prescient view of climate change. Within its first five minutes, scientist Athelstan Spilhaus warns of the greenhouse effect of carbon dioxide in the world’s atmosphere that could eventually melt the polar ice caps. https://buysoundtrax.myshopify.com/products/franz-waxman-the-documentaries-the-mysterious-deep-lenin-and-trotsk
“This documentary series hosted by Walter Cronkite,… examines outstanding events and personalities of the twentieth century. In this program, part one of two, Cronkite examines the mysteries of the ocean. Topics discussed include the following: penetrating the ocean surface; the aqualung, a self-contained breathing apparatus developed by oceanographer Jacques-Yves Cousteau; the possibility that the ice caps will melt; the violence of the sea and scientists’ attempts to control the weather to stop violent hurricanes before they originate; how sea water is used to quench the thirsts of millions of people through irrigation systems that purify the water; the importance of seaweed harvesting in Japan; and how microphones are used to determine if sea creatures have a way of communicating. Includes a preview of part two.”
Details
- NETWORK: CBS
- DATE: March 27, 1960 Sunday 6:30 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 0:26:15
- COLOR/B&W: B&W
https://www.paleycenter.org/collection/item/?q=cbs&p=19&item=T79:0499
The amount of carbon dioxide in the air was roughly 319ppm. As of 2023 it is 419ppm, but check here for daily measures.
The context was that the International Geophysical Year ended in 1958. And the questions of the weather in the natural world continued to be fascinating to everyone. And this was at the high tide of new technologies which could see further underwater so, Cousteau and so forth.
What’s interesting about Spilhaus was that he worked for Roger Revelle in the 1930s. As I recall, I think he did a PhD. And he was also a cartoonist, and by 1958, he had started his famous world of tomorrow cartoons and in 1958. He had done one on the greenhouse effect in a 1958 cartoon here.
This is one of the first examples of coverage of greenhouse gas emissions on the television
What I think we can learn from this
We really have had loads of time to get used to the idea, haven’t we?
What happened next
Nothing effective on mitigation. Lots of emissions. Then consequences.
What do you think? Does this pass the ‘so what?’ threshold? Have I got facts wrong? Interpretation wrong? Please do comment on this post, unless you are a denialist, obvs..