Fifty seven years ago, on this day, July 25th, 1969, the Frontiers of Science people – not for the first time – tackled climate change from carbon dioxide build-up.
The amount of carbon dioxide in the air was xxxppm. 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 “Frontiers of Science” cartoon series had been running in Fairfax newspapers for a few years. In January 1965 there had been a remarkably good strip about carbon dioxide build-up.
The specific context was that by mid-1969 carbon dioxide build-up was being mentioned in articles about air pollution, global problems. It was not a state secret.
What I think we can learn from this – by the late 1960s, we knew to watch out. We then did NOT watch out.
What happened next – in September 1969 carbon dioxide build-up was mentioned in a Senate Report on Air Pollution, by various scientific luminaries on ABC radio and at an Australian Conservation Foundation seminar in Melbourne. The issue had arrived.
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:
July 25, 1977 – New York Times front page story “scientists foresee serious climate changes”
July 25, 1989 – “Mineral Fuel Alternatives and the Greenhouse Effect”
July 25, 1996 – Australian PM John Howard as fossil-fuel puppet
July 25, 1997 – US says, in effect, “screw our promises, screw the planet”
July 25, 2001 – Australian Environment Minister says the quiet part out loud about Kyoto
July 25, 2008 – More economic “modelling” against an emissions trading scheme – All Our Yesterdays