Fifty one years ago, on this day, September 1st, 1975,
Bert Bolin, ‘Energi och klimat’ presentation at Energy Council hearing, 1 Sept. 1975, Box A14:001, Appendix, Energifrågan. Olof Palmes Archive, Swedish Labour Movement´s Archive and Library Stockholm
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 Bert Bolin had been banging on about carbon dioxide build up since 1958-59. See, for example, at the National Academy of Sciences meeting in Washington, DC, which was reported here.
Anyway from the late 60s. Bolin’s work was beginning to gain some traction in Sweden. The Prime Minister, Olof Palme, had by this stage been briefed about CO2 build up by Herman Flohn, the German meteorologist.
The specific context was the first oil shock had concentrated everyone’s minds. And here we see Bolin, who had helped organise the 1974 GARP conference just outside Stockholm, talking to the Energy Council.
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What I think we can learn from this is that the Swedes were well ahead of the game. They knew what was at stake, not all Swedes, but the elite, certainly. And the 70s is really the decade where we got switched on to it all.
What happened next A Nuclear power referendum, Olaf Palm getting shot and killed.
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:
September 1, 1933 – is our climate changing?
September 1, 1957 – Popular Mechanics asks “What is happening to the weather?”
September 1, 1968 – UNESCO Biosphere Conference begins in Paris
September 1, 1970 – Environmentalism is an elite-diversion tactic, says American Maoist
September 1, 1972 – “Man-Made Carbon Dioxide and the “Greenhouse Effect” published in Nature
September 1, 1980 – “Soft Underbelly of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet” article submitted
September 1, 1983- #climate change is all in the game, you feel me?
September 1, 1998 – Sydney Futures Exchange foresees a bright future. Ooops.
September 1, 2006 – Cameron signs FOE’s “Big Ask”
September 1, 2021 – XR action versus glass door of a US investment bank