Fifty seven years ago, on this day, March 1st, 1967, a London audience heard mention of carbon dioxide build-up.
THE DISPOSAL OF COMMUNAL WASTE
A paper by H. R. OAKLEY , M.Sc., M.I.C.E. read to the Society on Wednesday 1st March 1967
The amount of carbon dioxide in the air was roughly 322ppm. As of 2024 it is 425ppm, but check here for daily measures.
The context was that Barry Commoner’s book Science and Survival had come out the previous September in the UK. It received favourable reviews. It mentioned carbon dioxide buildup. In January of that year, there had been a television programme on the BBC called Challenge, directed by the late Roy Battersby, which had also mentioned CO2 buildup.
So, while it is surprising, perhaps to think of people in 1967, explicitly referencing carbon dioxide buildup in speeches about disposal of waste, it’s not actually that surprising.
What we can learn is that we have known about a potential issue for a lot longer than is commonly thought, but that we were unable to turn this individual awareness and potential worry into anything sustained. Because we as a species can’t really cope with uncertainty and fear, especially if it’s an apocalypse of our own making. People tend to give up on fighting the system for very understandable reasons; because the system wins! And they retreat either into physical escapes or mental escapes.
What happened next?
Well, the carbon dioxide buildup issue kept being discussed by 1969 it was relatively prominent. And in August 1970, the first British state pushback happened.
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.
Also on this day:
March 1, 1954 – Lucky Dragon incident gives the world the word “fall out”