Fifty six years ago, on this day, November 1st, 1969, an academic article is published –
“Carbon dioxide affects global ecology”
https://www.smokeandfumes.org/documents/document32
The amount of carbon dioxide in the air was 324ppm. 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 from the early 1960s the concern about carbon dioxide had grown from a few knowledgeable people, and slowly spread. By 1967 it was appearing in Time Magazine, and Newsweek.
The specific context was in 1969 questions of global ecology and pollution had bloomed. The firing gun had been the Santa Barbara Oil Spill in January.
What I think we can learn from this is that – we knew plenty.
What happened next – there was an international conference in June 1972 in Stockholm. Emissions kept climbing. And climbing.
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