Fifty-seven years ago, on this day, November 1st, 1968, Ida Hoos laid it out.
The amount of carbon dioxide in the air was 323ppm. As of 2025, when this post was published, it is 430ppm. 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 scientists and technologists had, since The Bomb, engaged in all sorts of hand-wringing about the broader questions of morality and the responsibility of scientists/technology types.
The specific context was – questions about technology and morals were kinda hot, given the atrocities the American war machine was perpetrating in South East Asia, with lots of science and technology types contributing to that.
What I think we can learn from this is that knowledge of the build-up of carbon dioxide was, by 1968, very wide-spread in scientific circles. The build-up itself was not controversial, and the possible consequences were understood as well. But the evidence in people’s “lived experience” was not there (but then again, that’s what we have science for, isn’t it?).
What happened next
Hoos lived to 2007, time enough to see which of the possible futures she had skilfully outlined came to pass.
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:
November 1, 1959 – M1 motorway section opened
November 1, 1974 – UK civil servants writing to each other on “Climatology”
November 1, 1975 – Stephen Schneider tries to clear up the “Carbon Dioxide Climate Confusion.”
November 1988 – Australian Mining Journal says C02 is a Good Thing
November 1, 1989 – Senior Australian politician talks on “Industry and Environment”
November 1, 1989 – “Greenhouse Action Australia” launches…
November 1, 2004 – Brilliant “Balance as Bias” article published