Forty three years ago, on this day, April 16, 1980, the Melbourne Age ran an article based on comments by US scientist William Kellogg and others at a US Senate energy and natural resources committee hearing the day before.
“The world could face an ecological disaster unless the amount of carbon dioxide pumped into the atmosphere is controlled.”
It is a stone cold classic of the “we were warned earlier than you think” genre. It is based on a congressional hearing, led by a clued-up Democrat, Paul Tsongas. Many familiar names are there (including some less familiar ones). And the warnings are entirely prescient.
And here we are.
Anon. 1980. World Ecology is endangered. The Age, April 16, p.9.
The amount of carbon dioxide in the air was roughly 340.9ppm. As of 2023 it is 420ppm, but check here for daily measures.
The context was
The big scientific push from the mid-1970s, in the aftermath of the 1972 Stockholm Conference, had left the scientists pretty clear on what was coming down the line. Their big challenge was to get politicians to see it. Some (Tsongas, George Brown et al.) did…
What I think we can learn from this
The same dynamic has been playing out for ages – library shelves grown under the weight of books about the Science-Politics “interface”, with bromides about what is to be done…
What happened next
Work was already underway in Australia for an Australian Academy of Science conference about the topic. Graeme Pearman and others (Barrie Pittock) were beavering away.
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.