Forty five years ago, on this day, October 16th, 1981, the Financial Times reports on a warning by chief scientist of the Department of Energy, Hermann Bondi, about anti-nuclear protests and protestors.
The amount of carbon dioxide in the air was 339ppm. 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 chief scientist at the Department of Energy, Herman Bondi, was very well aware of carbon dioxide build up, and didn’t want it to be a public issue per se. And he also wanted to try to win debates with the anti-nuclear crowd, and so here we see him reaching for the standard “you want black people to starve line,” which is pushed it out all the fucking time.
What I think we can learn from this – concern for the poor of the world is a tried and tested rhetorical flourish, from people who almost certainly do not give a rat’s arse.
What happened next ? Nuclear for dealing with greenhouse gas became a talking point again in 1988-89 and it’s still there to this day.
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On this topic, you might like these other posts on All Our Yesterdays
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Also on this day: