Fifty four years ago, on this day, December 20th, 1971,
But the newly revealed Dec. 20, 1971, research proposal by the White House Office of Science and Technology shows for the first time that Nixon’s science advisors embarked on an extensive analysis of the potential risks of climate change and an assessment of the data needs. https://insideclimatenews.org/news/26042024/nixon-administration-climate-research-plan/
The amount of carbon dioxide in the air was 326ppm. 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 the first global ecological awakening (aka “The Malthusian Moment”) had begun in late 1968/early 1969, with Earthrise and then the Santa Barbara Oil Spill. April 1970 had seen “Earth Day”…. That same year had seen the passage of NEPA and the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency.
The specific context was that Nixon’s people (e.g. Daniel Moynihan) had been talking about carbon dioxide build-up since 1969.
What I think we can learn from this – there were people doing the research and thinking all the way back then.
What happened next – extensive federal support for climate research only got going late in the 1970s, with the 1978 National Climate Programme Act.
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:
December 20, 1961 – UNGA resolution on outer space and weather modification
December 20, 1969 – AGU on climate change… –
December 20, 1983 – Documentary on “the Climate Crisis” shown
December 20, 2007 – UK opposition leader David Cameron gives clean coal speech in Beijing…