Fifty years ago, on this day, November 17th, 1975 Living with Climatic Change conference begins in Toronto.
In 1975 there was an important conference in Toronto entitled “Living with Climate Change”, sponsored by the Canadian Meteorological Society, the Mexican Geophysical Union, the American Meteorological Society and the Science Council of Canada. It was attended by leading persons in atmospheric sciences at the time from Mexico, the United States, and Canada, many of whom became familiar figures in climate change issues in subsequent years. I think that it is of interest, and provides important perspective to our work today to quote from the first sentence of the report of thirty-four years ago (McTaggart-Cowan and Beltzner, 1976):
“There is growing evidence that the world is entering a new climate regime. Both the rate of change of the climate and the amplitude of short-term climatic variations will be much more pronounced than in the recent past.”
And the last sentence of the preface reads:
“We hope that this discussion will be a significant impetus toward furthering our ability to live more securely and more contentedly with climate change.”
Could not this statement from 1975 apply equally well to our symposium in 2009?
(SOURCE)
The amount of carbon dioxide in the air was 331ppm. As of 2025, 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 by the mid-1970s there had been a lot of freaky bits of weather/desertification/crop failures etc. Carbon dioxide was not the only culprit (see also dust, thermal pollution).
The specific context was the Canadians were alive to the problems, given their long long winters, and a bunch of decent scientists.
Meanwhile, the first academic article to use the phrase “global warming” had been published earlier that year.
What I think we can learn from this – we worried for a long time. By the mid 1970s, the worries were coalescing around carbon dioxide…
What happened next – the Americans were publishing, there was a push for a World Climate Conference, which happened in 1979. That could/should have been the moment a serious political push started. Oh well…
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.
Also on this day:
November 17, 1869 – Suez Canal opens – All Our Yesterdays
November 17, 1968 -The Observer covers carbon dioxide pollution… – All Our Yesterdays
November 17, 1968 – UK national newspaper flags carbon dioxide danger…
November 17, 1978 – British Wind Energy Association launches –
November 17, 1980 – International meeting about carbon dioxide build up.
November 17, 1994 – “When consumption is no longer sustainable”… –
November 17, 2018 – XR occupy five bridges in London
November 17, 2023 – two degrees warmer, for the first time… – All Our Yesterdays