Thirty five years ago, on this day, September 13th, 1991,
Export markets for Australian coal could start to disappear by the end of the decade because of advancing energy technology. Overseas research is concentrating on treatments to make coal burn more efficiently. The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) has made research into the field a priority to defend Australian markets.
Forman, D. 1991. CSIRO crusades for coal’s future. BRW, September 13
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 the negotiations for the climate treaty, which would become the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, were underway, and the Australians are beginning to realise that a strict treaty might actually have impacts on the amount of coal they can flog to developing nations. This is also the exact moment that it’s becoming clear that Bob Hawke will not be Prime Minister for much longer, and that Paul Keating, who hates environmentalism and environmentalists, will be grabbing the throne.
What I think we can learn from this is the old line, follow the money. It’s not much more complicated than that. It is somewhat more complicated, but not that much more.
What happened next Australia became an opponent of climate action, and here we are completely fucked with emissions climbing, well plateauing at about 40 billion tonnes a year, concentrations climbing, and as the sinks fail, those concentrations will climb more quickly, regardless of emissions, unless emissions take a massive nosedive. No one’s explained to me how they think emissions are going to take a massive nose dive.
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.
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Also on this day:
September 13, 1661 – Fumifugium!
September 13, 1856 – the game’s a Foote
September 13, 1976 – US news broadcast on ozone and climate.
September 13, 1984 – unsettling Seattle workshop on sea level rise