Forty seven years ago, on this day, July 6th, 1979, a letter was published in the Nottingham Post, written by one K. Cooke, of Aspley.
“When hundreds of millions of trees are destroyed in the Amazon forests, as they have been over the past 65 years, the whole world suffers a loss of oxygen and an increase in carbon dioxide.
The deforestation of tropical rain forests and the wiping out of numerous species of animals and plants, produce harmful effects on the climate of the world and the balance of nature.
A Brazilian scientist says: “We are threatened with possibly the greatest ecological disaster in world history.”
But also, check out that advert!!
The amount of carbon dioxide in the air was 337ppm. 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 was there had been stories in newspapers (and magazines) about carbon dioxide build-up from the 1950s. From the late 1960s, those stories started to get a bit firmer in their concerns. Through the 1970s, scientists beavered away. The idea that the climate was changing (either hotter or colder!) was common currency, and the 1976 heatwave/drought in Europe had got people talking.
The specific context was that the First World Climate Conference had happened in February, and the reporting on it in the UK had usually talked about carbon dioxide build-up. By this time even Margaret Thatcher had gone public (though privately deriding the idea) because it enabled her to advocate for nuclear power (see her interview with the BBC at the G7 in Tokyo on June 29).
What I think we can learn from this – the whole topic was tolerably well-understood by intelligent and well-informed people in the 1970s. The signal had not emerged from the noise ecologically, but smart humans can spot the patterns. The wilfully ignorant, well, not so much.
What happened next
The problem finally became an issue in 1988. Then they bullshitting and kayfabe started.
On this topic, you might like these other posts on All Our Yesterdays
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References
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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:
July 6, 1972 – “Workers and the Environment” conference in London…
July 6, 1988 – Piper Alpha blows up
July 6, 1993 – Australian bipartisanship on climate? Not really…