Fifty seven years ago, on this day, January 23rd, 1968, a US federal government bureaucrat, Roy F Bessey, flags the possible long-term problem of carbon dioxide build up.
The amount of carbon dioxide in the air was roughly 323ppm. As of 2025 it is 425ppm, but check here for daily measures.
The context was that more and more people were switching on to the possibility of global, rather than local, impacts of “the Great Acceleration”. President Lyndon Johnson had namechecked carbon dioxide build-up in a February 1965 address, and in January 1967, the editor of Science had led an editorial about the atmosphere with C02 build-up…
What I think we can learn from this is that by 1968 it is not terribly surprising to see experts saying that there might be trouble ahead.
What happened next
That trouble ahead? It’s arrived, hasn’t it?
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:
January 23, 1957 – New Zealand scientist warns about consequences of carbon dioxide build-up
January 23, 1992 – denialist bullshit in the Fin
January 23, 1995 – The Larsen B starts to break up with us.. (Ice, Ice, baby)