Thirty two years ago, on this day, June 24th, Manchester does what Manchester does best – big promises of future environmental action.
The amount of carbon dioxide in the air was 359ppm. As of 2026, 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 for this was that the Rio Earth Summit had happened in 1992, and Manchester had stuck its hand up to do the follow-up.
The specific context was that there were all sorts of problems (funding, ‘vision’) and the whole thing was a damp nasty squib.
What I think we can learn is this: Manchester does cheap talk well.
What happened next: Waves of promise making, and ignorance about previous waves on the part of both activists and (some) councillors and officers. It’s all kayfabe, innit?
On this topic, you might like these other posts on All Our Yesterdays
References
You can see the chronological list of All Our Yesterdays “on this day” posts here.
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.
If you want to get involved, let me know.
If you want to invite me on your podcast, that would boost my ego and probably improve the currently pitiful hit-rate on this site (the two are not-unrelated).
Also on this day:
June 24, 1974 – Conference on “Science and Technology for Human Development” opens in Bucharest
June 24, 1985 – Climate change rears its head at a development meeting…
June 24, 1986 – New Yorkers get to watch a documentary on “The Climate Crisis”
June 24, 2004 – UN Global Compact Summit in New York, launches ESG in “Who Cares Wins” report