Thirty five years ago, on this day, September 3rd, [nb] 1991,
Dick Smith launches IPA nonsense “Reconciling Economics and the Environment”
The amount of carbon dioxide in the air was 355ppm. 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 that Dick Smith had made a quick fortune by establishing and then selling a range of cheap and cheerful electronics outlets, and Smith had also taken an interest in biodiversity. He’d created Australian Geographic, so he had environmental credentials and plausibility. Smith is also, or was at the time – I don’t know if he still is – extremely “dry” on his economics, and so was happy to pal around with the Institute for Public Affairs, a so-called think tank that spews climate denial. It didn’t do it explicitly back then, quite so much as it does now.
The specific context was that debates over a carbon tax were live, and the IPA was keen to attack such moves as unjustifiable interference in the “free” market.
What I think we can learn from this is that climate denialists know when to push for delay and when to come out with active denial, and they know how to make marriages of convenience with plausible cultural and economic figures.
What happened next Australian Geographic is still being published. I don’t know (or particularly care) what Smith’s views are on climate change, but ultimately we’re completely fucked.
On this topic, you might like these other posts on All Our Yesterdays
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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:
September 3, 1988 – Ann Landers is Greta Thunberg avant la lettre…
September 3, 1990 – Greenies meet Prime Minister, a cautious dance ensues
September 3, 2002 – “Kyoto cuts too small, so we’re not going to bother”.
It was September 7th, according to this – An invitation for Dick Smith, the IPA and other Walter Block fans to the 2nd Australian Mises Seminar
by Benjamin Marks, author of “An Open Letter to Dick Smith,” and Economics.org.au editor-in-chief
In Sydney, on September 7, 1991, famous Australian entrepreneur and environmentalist Dick Smith launched Reconciling Economics and the Environment, edited by Jeff Bennett and Walter Block, for the IPA.1