Thirty four years ago, on this day, September 22nd, 1992,
Greenhouse Beyond Rio: A Two-day Conference on the Greenhouse Effect ; Sir Robert Menzies Centre for Australian Studies, London, 22 – 23 September 1992 ;
The amount of carbon dioxide in the air was 356ppm. 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 greenhouse effect problem had become an issue in 1988. And the politicians had wrangled. And, ultimately, the United States’ position of “no targets and timetables for emissions reductions by rich nations or we are boycotting the Earth Summit” had prevailed. The UNFCCC text was a slow-motion suicide note.
So people were holding post-Rio Earth Summit meetings and putting on a brave face, wanting to believe, wanting to pretend, wanting other people to believe that an important landmark had been passed, and that there was going to be actual climate action.
But anyone who had witnessed previous rounds of the kayfabe will have known that this was all bullshit. I doubt many people were willing to say it out in public because that’s career-limiting or career-ending, and why piss on everyone else’s chips, I guess? Let them believe whatever deluded shite they want to believe. It doesn’t really matter anymore.
What I think we can learn from this the kayfabe caravan must roll on…
What happened next. Well, you’re living with the consequences, consequences of it, 34 years of increased emissions, and therefore increased atmospheric concentrations, and therefore heat trapped, and therefore extreme weather events, and therefore climatic changes. Welcome to the Fafocence, I hope you enjoy the show.
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 22, 1955 – a General Electric scientist warned about carbon dioxide build-up
September 22, 1971 – Australian communist talks about climate change
September 22, 1991 – ESD RIP. Australia’s chance of a different future… squashed flat.
September 22, 1994 – another “sky will fall” report