On this day in 1986 the Melbourne newspaper The Age ran a decent and entirely prescient spread about the coming crisis.
The amount of carbon dioxide in the air was roughly 346ppm. As of 2023 it is 423ppm, but check here for daily measures.
The context was that after the pivotal Villach conference in September 1985, scientists were pulling every lever they could. They had cred and salience because of the Ozone Hole. The CSIRO (Australian Science Body) was, with the help of the Commission for the Future, getting its public-facing act together. More immediately, the Age had run a brief front page story on 19 June.
What we can learn
The predictions were right, give or take
What happened next
Opportunities to hold hands, proclaim our virtue and … emissions. Lots of emissions
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.