Thirty seven years ago, on this day, November 10th, 1989,
10 Nov 1989 Rural industries, workshop on climate change, Canberra, 10 November 1989.
Author: Australia. Bureau of Rural Resources.
ISBN: 9780646011189
Publication Information: Canberra : Bureau of Rural Resources, [1990].
Physical Description: iii, 52 pages : illustrations, maps ; 30 cm.
Series: BRR report ; no. R/3/90
Report (Australia. Bureau of Rural Resources) ; no.
The amount of carbon dioxide in the air was 351ppm. 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 Australia is a pretty interesting place to grow food. The weather matters (Goyder line etc) and there have been brutal droughts etc etc. So, changes in the weather, long-term, are always of interest.
The specific context was the carbon dioxide build-up problem had finally become an issue in 1987-88, and these sorts of conferences and workshops were happening all the time. This one is before ABARE became a site of ridiculous economic “modelling” aimed at protecting the fossil fuel industries.
What I think we can learn from this – organisations can be sane/useful and then get captured and repurposed. So it goes.
What happened next ABARE became one of the nodes in the network of denial, delay and obfuscation in the 1990s and into the 2000s.
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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:
November 10, 1969 – “Carbon Dioxide and All That”
November 10, 1994 – “profit or planet – choose one” (Victorian electricity)
November 10, 1995 – Ken Saro-Wiwa and other Ogoni executed
November 10, 1995 – moronic “Leipzig Declaration” by moronic denialists