Twenty five years ago, on this day, August 16th, 1976,
16 August 1976 – Energy expert shortage pleasant in the Melbourne Age
The amount of carbon dioxide in the air was 331ppm. 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 there had been a big oil shock in 1973-74 where oil prices had quadrupled, thanks to an Arab embargo of exports to countries that had supported Israel in the Yom Kippur War, and doubtless within this, the oil companies were finding ways to push up their prices, a nice little ancillary benefit.
The specific context was The oil shock had focused the mind on energy shortages, and here we see someone suggesting that if energy were less plentiful and more expensive, it might not automatically be a bad thing. This should be read against the context of E. F. Schumacher, “Small is Beautiful,” the back-to-the-land movement, and all the rest of it with carbon dioxide build up just creeping in around the edges now just starting to be that thing that gets mentioned.
What I think we can learn from this is that there were debates around how much energy we should use. Those debates were sidelined then, they’re being sidelined now. Nothing really changes, because we are led by neurotic narcissists who need power to bolster their self-image (and to get rich, obvs), and they tell themselves stories about the public good on some occasions, or not on others.
What happened next – debates around sufficiency, degrowth etc continue to be ignored, scoffed at etc.
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.
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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:
August 16, 1971 – “The changing chemistry of the oceans.”
August 16, 2000 – No future for the Sydney Futures Exchange
August 16, 2002 – “Oil Lobby Urges Bush to Keep Climate Change Off the Table at Earth Summit
August 16, 2010 – Polar Bears going through the motions
August 16, 2012 – Tony Windsor calls Tony Abbott an “absolute disgrace” on carbon tax/climate