Sixteen ago, on this day, January 20th, 2010,
“It was an event billed as the smackdown between the baddest coal baron around and the environmental heir to the liberal Kennedy legacy, live on stage and in the heart of Appalachia mine country. Stage right, appropriately, was Don Blankenship, chairman of Massey Energy, a meaty impassive presence, his Kentucky drawl never picking up speed or volume. On the left, Robert F Kennedy Jr, who has spent his life defending waterways, making lawyerly argument out of staccato bursts of statistics.
The pairing at the University of Charleston was the perfect personification of America’s deep divides: Republican versus Democrat; old industry v new, global warming denier v impassioned advocate for climate change laws.”
Goldberg, S. 2010. Kennedy takes on the coal baron in mountain duel. The Guardian, January 22.
The amount of carbon dioxide in the air was roughly 390ppm. As of 2026 it is 428ppm, but check here for daily measures.
The broader context was that his dad RFK Snr was making the “right” noises about conservation and economics a couple of months before he got whacked in 1968.
The specific context was RFK wasn’t bonkers. Or he was, but hiding it better?
What we learn is that people can have some good ideas and then completely off the rails.
What happened next
Yeah, well, read a newspaper. He’s killing millions, helping diseases were were keeping in check stage a comeback.
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
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Also on this day:
January 20, 1992 – Gambling on climate… and losing #auspol
January 20, 2011 – Shell tries to change the subject from its own emissions