Eighteen years ago, on this day, June 25th, 2008,
The amount of carbon dioxide in the air was roughly 384ppm. As of 2025 it is 430ppm, but check here for daily measures.
The context was that we were in the midst of the second Big Wave of climate awareness (the first one had been 1988-1992). Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth had come out, won an Oscar. The Fourth Assessment Report of the IPCC had come out. Talk of a successor to the (piss-weak) Kyoto Protocol was afoot. Climate camps were being held. There was still a sort of belief that things might be if not turned around, then, the killer blows softened (not all of us believed that, of course).
What I think we can learn from this We knew of our failure. And here we are.
What happened next: More great cartoons got published. And the emissions climbed.
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:
June 25, 2002, 2003 and 2008 – CCS’s first hype cycle builds – All Our Yesterdays