Twenty three years ago, on this day, October 1st, 2002,
De Figueiredo, M. A., Reiner, D. M., & Herzog, H. J. (2002). Ocean carbon sequestration:A case study in public and institutional perceptions. Sixth International Conference onGreenhouse Gas Control Technologies, October 1–4, 2002, Kyoto, Japan
The amount of carbon dioxide in the air was 373ppm. 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 proposals to dump C02 in the deep ocean had been around since the mid-1970s, thanks to our friends at IIASA.
The specific context was that the IPCC was beginning work on its Special Report on CCS, and everyone was beginning to get excited…
What I think we can learn from this – that we always think we’re gonna “tech our way out.” We rarely do (though vaccines are pretty damn cool).
What happened next – CCS has been through several hype cycles since then.
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:
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