Fifty six years ago, on this day, October 1st, 1969 –
Concorde Breaks Sound Barrier (1969)
Concorde breaks the sound barrier for the first time.
The amount of carbon dioxide in the air was 324ppm. As of 2025, when this post was published, it is 425ppm. This matters because the more carbon dioxide in the air, the more heat gets trapped. The more heat, the more extreme weather events. You can make it more complicated than that if you want, but really, it’s not. Fwiw, I have a tattoo of the Keeling Curve on my left forearm.
The broader context was that the Sixties was the last decade where these sorts of techno-utopian dreams could be brought to “reality” without too much pushback from economics or civil society.
The specific context was that man had just walked on the moon (”Holy Shit”, as per The Onion’s Our Dumb Century), and perhaps anything seemed possible.
What I think we can learn from this is that if you were born in the 40s or 50s, then that sense of optimism/possibility is possibly baked into you, on some level, and you might be someone who resents the existence of limits and all those dirty hippies and snivelling scientists who turned out to be right about that.
What happened next – Supersonic transport never took off (sorry about that) in the way intended. The economics didn’t add up, and after a fatal crash, Concorde came back only briefly before its last passenger flight in October 2003.
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.
References
Oct 1st 1969, Concorde 001 breaks through the sound barrier for the first time. — Aerospace Bristol
Also on this day:
October 1, 1957 – US Oil company ponders carbon dioxide build-up…
October 1, 1964 – The Free Speech Movement kicks off in Berkeley – All Our Yesterdays
October 1, 1977 – Worldwatch on “Redefining National Security” – All Our Yesterdays
October 1, 1997 – Global greens gather in Melbourne, diss Australian #climate policy