Author: drmarchudson

Categories
Australia

October 20, 1977 – Australian petition on solar energy and carbon dioxide build-up…

On this day, October 20  in 1977, a petition was received by the Australian parliament about the importance of renewable energy and the effects of carbon dioxide build up in the atmosphere.

Thursday, 20 October 1977

To the Honourable the Speaker and members of the House of Representatives in Parliament assembled. The humble petition of the undersigned citizens of Australia respectfully showeth that the undersigned persons believe:

That there should be more research into all fields providing energy sources such as uranium and its effects, solar energy, tidal energy, coal and the effects of carbon dioxide.

And your petitioners as in duty bound will ever pray. by Mr Connolly (see below)

Petition received. 

Source

David Connolly-

[The amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere was 331.28ppm. At time of writing it was 421ishppm- but for what it is now,well, see here for the latest.]

The context was this – 

Australian environmentalists knew what was coming. They tried their best, but were defeated, basically.

Why this matters. 

The failure pre-dates John Howard.

What happened next?

Australia kept burning coal. And exporting the stuff. And wants to keep doing so.

Categories
Australia

October 20, 1997 – Greenpeace tries to give John Howard solar panels…

On this day, October 20  in 1997, Greenpeace activists found that they couldn’t GIVE away solar panels. Even to the Australian Prime Minister

1997 – Greenpeace activists install solar panels On Monday October 20, Greenpeace members occupied John Howard’s Sydney residence and installed some photovoltaic panels. It got front page coverage on most papers, and national TV. The ABC’s coverage included an interview with one of the police. He said ‘ Every thinking person should install solar panels on their house’

Source – Australian Views on Renewable Energy Caroline Le Couteur

See also here

SYDNEY, Australia (AP) _ More than 15 Greenpeace environmental activists on Monday stormed the gates of the prime minister’s official Sydney residence and scaled the house to set up six solar energy-collection panels.

They scaled the gates of Kirribilli House, on the north shore of Sydney Harbor right across from the Opera House, using ladders and climbed onto the second floor of the house to install solar panels to protest what they says is Australia’s neglect of solar energy technology.

Greenpeace climate campaigner Pat Keith Tarlo said they wanted to draw attention to the current global race to develop solar energy technology and to reduce the use of non-renewable fossil fuels.

“Australia is nowhere to be seen in this race,″ Tarlo said.

“It is a fantastic opportunity for Australian jobs and for Australian industry in solar technology, but at the moment the government is ignoring the possibilities.″

The activists placed banners on the roof which read: “Stop Climate Change Greenpeace″ and “Go Solar Greenpeace.″

Prime Minister John Howard was in Canberra to attend the opening of a session of Parliament, and there only appeared to be two security guards on the grounds who were unable to stop the protesters.

Police were deciding how to remove the protesters, who were still at the residence late Monday morning.

[The amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere was 360.98ppm. At time of writing it was 421ishppm- but for what it is now,well, see here for the latest.]

The context was this – 

John Howard was trying to in full court press mode trying to avoid Australia having to adopt any emissions reductions at the upcoming Kyoto conference. Something he succeeded at admirably.

Why this matters. 

Fun stunts, what’s not to love?

What happened next?

Australia got a sweet sweet deal at Kyoto. And still did not ratify until 2007 (when Kevin Rud became Prime Minister).

But on Kyoto, see here (Veil of Kyoto article).

Categories
Australia

October 19, 2010 – Greenpeace trolls ANZ Bank

On this day, October 19 in 2010, Greenpeace Australia did another of their media-friendly stunts – this time a projection onto a bank, to combat greenwashing.

ANZ We Pollute Your World. On 19 October 2010 Greenpeace displayed a projection on the side of Yallourn W power station, in Moe, Victoria, as part of the campaign targeting the financing of Australia’s coal industry.[57]

Source

[The amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere was 387.43ppm. At time of writing it was 421ishppm- but for what it is now,well, see here for the latest.]

The context was this – Australia was wrestling with a price on carbon (emissions trading? Great Big Tax on Everything?)

Why this matters. 

Greenwash is insidious, invidious, and needs to be challenged.

What happened next?

Greenpeace kept going, the greenwash kept going, the emissions and atmospheric concentrations kept climbing. Ooops.

See tomorrow’s post for a far more entertaining Greenpeace stunt!

Categories
United States of America

October 18, 1983- US news networks tell the truth about #climate. Yes, 1983.

On this day, October 18 in 1983, 

“On October 18, 1983, all three U.S. television networks ran two-minute stories on the greenhouse effect, and CBS and ABC placed their stories at or near the top of the news programs. What had happened? The Environmental Protection Agency had issued a report analyzing the impact of the greenhouse effect on the temperature of the earth. CBS and ABC featured John Hoffman of the EPA urging that preparations be made for the future.”

Sachsman 2000

[The amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere was 340.53ppm. At time of writing it was 421ishppm- but for what it is now,well, see here for the latest.]

The context was this – That day had seen the release of a National Academy of Science report that tried to cast doubt on the imminence of human-induced climate change, in contradiction to, well, all the other reports, including the Environmental Protection Agency one of the same time.

(There has been a “battle of the articles” between Orsekes et al and Nierenberg et al about all this. Buy me a beer and I will give you my two cents).

NB In 1983 everyone terrified of nuclear war Nobody had much left over fear for carbon dioxide molecules…

Why this matters. 

Different interests will try to cloak themselves in the mantle of Neutral Science. Be ready!

What happened next?

The NAS report didn’t really have much impact in the scientific community, best I can tell. The meetings kept happening, the papers kept getting written. By October 1985 in Villach…

Categories
Science Scientists United States of America

October 18, 1973 – “how on earth do you stop using fossil fuels?”

On this day, October 18 in 1973, a prominent US climate scientist, Reid Bryson, testified before a subcommittee of US congress.

Reid Bryson – There is no way right now that we can control the climate to make it more benign. Even if we were to say “let us stop using fossil fuels so that we do not add carbon dioxide to the atmosphere, because that impacts the world climate,” how on earth could you stop using fossil fuels? Even those countries that are most heavily impacted by the climatic change are the ones who say it is our turn to be affluent and it is in the use of fossil fuels that one gains affluence. U.S. Congress (October 18, 1973). U.S. and world food situation. Hearings, before the Subcommittee on Agricultural Production, Marketing, and Stabilization of Prices and Subcommittee on Foreign Agricultural Policy of the Committee on Agriculture and Forestry, United States Senate, Ninety-third Congress, first session. U.S. G.P.O. p. 120.

[The amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere was 327.18ppm. At time of writing it was 421ishppm- but for what it is now,well, see here for the latest.]

The context was this –  politicians, sensitised by Earth Day and various reports, were beginning to look into the security/geopolitical impacts of a change in the climate (hot or cold).  Food security was a Big Issue.

Why this matters. 

Well, ultimately it doesn’t, but it’s kinda interesting!

What happened next?

Bryson bet all his chips on “not fossil fuels,” and lost. There’s an interesting article about that and him, here,

Categories
Maldives

October 17, 2009 – Maldives cabinet meets underwater

On this day, October 17 in 2009, ahead of the “last chance to save the world” climate conference in Copenhagen, the Maldives cabinet met… underwater.

2009 17 October Maldives underwater cabinet

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/8311838.stm

[The amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere was 384.64ppm. At time of writing it was 421ishppm- but for what it is now,well, see here for the latest.]

The context was this – the small island states have been trying to get the rich countries to take climate change serious, since sea level rise will properly wipe them off the map. Not much luck in that, obviously. The Copenhagen meeting (COP15) was hailed as ‘last chance to save the world’. Etc etc.

Why this matters. 

Nice picture. Shame about the planet.

What happened next?

Denialists carped about the airport at the Maldives, for international tourists. Because only people willing to starve to death deserve any consideration, obviously. The old hypocrite-zealot trap, eh?

Categories
Uncategorized

October 16, 1956 – will H-bombs knock the world off balance!?

On this day, October 16 in 1956, Democratic vice-presidential nominee worried aloud about H-bomb tests knocking the world off balance.

1956  VP candidate Estes Kefauver warns H-bomb tests could knock Earth off its axis by 16 degrees. http://archives.chicagotribune.com/1961/11/13/page/24/article/why-sen-kefauver-is-all-bent-over

[The amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere was 314ppm. At time of writing it was 421ishppm- but for what it is now,well, see here for the latest.]

The context was this – everyone was blowing stuff up in the atmosphere. The comprehensive test ban was not a thing until a few years later.

Why this matters. 

Not all the fears of imminent doom are born out (if they were, we wouldn’t have lasted five minutes on our feet! Humans do like to catastrophise…)

What happened next?

Somebody made a very cool movie – The Day the Earth Caught Fire – about (spoilers) H-bomb tests knocking the world off its axis. Do try to catch it – it’s a corker.

Categories
Australia Denial

October 16, 1997 – Australian businessman declares climate change “no longer an issue”

On this day, October 16 in 1997, Australian businessman Hugh Morgan, executive director of Western Mining Company, speaking on ABC radio, claimed that climate change was no longer an issue.

“Also, in responding to Senator Parer’s comments regarding the “Club of Rome” reported in The SMH on 14.3.97, both BHP Limited and CRA Limited executives were reported to confirm their commitment to environmental performance. The CRA Limited executive made it clear that his company considered climate change a serious issue. In contrast to this, on 16.10.97 Hugh Morgan, the Executive Director of Western Mining Company Ltd. stated the change in the science indicated that the experiment test of climate change had not been met which implied that climate change was no longer an issue (ABC radio news, AM program).”

(Duncan, 1997:84)

[The amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere was 360.98ppm. At time of writing it was 421ishppm- but for what it is now,well, see here for the latest.]

The context was this – 

Australian business had mobilised strongly and successfully in the early 1990s against the threat of a carbon tax. The new threat was that international pressure at the upcoming Kyoto conference might lead to the Australian government accepting actual cuts in emissions. Prime Minister John Howard was moving heaven and earth to avoid this, and doubtless was pleased when Hugh Morgan came out with this.

Morgan was an old-fashioned culture warrior, who had previously said Aborigines had practiced cannibalism etc etc. The stuff he came out with in the 70s and 80s was just wild.

His consigliere, Ray Evans, was already neck deep in co-ordinating international anti-climate  collaboration, with US denialists. Evans was later a founder of the misnamed “Lavoisier Group.”

Why this matters. 

Let’s remember who has been working hard to stop anything being done about climate change, yes?

What happened next?

Australia got a sweet sweet deal at Kyoto and STILL didn’t ratify.

Categories
Science Scientists

October 15, 1985 – Villach meeting supercharges greenhouse concerns…

On this day, October 15 in 1985, scientists from around the world began a meeting that would lead to the final arrival of the climate “issue” on the international agenda.  Here is the beginning of an article by prominent science writer Fred Pearce, writing in 2005…

“The week the climate changed; Villach, a sleepy spa town in southern Austria, is not an obvious place from which to change the world. But 20 years ago this week, a conference there became the spark that lit today’s burning concern about global warming. Before Villach, the greenhouse effect was a subject for specialised physicists – a possible problem for future generations and nothing more. After Villach, global warming swiftly became the world’s top environmental story. The conference, say the people who were there, was the catalyst for the formation of the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) – the gatekeeper for the science of climate change – and led to the Kyoto protocol. So what happened? Was it atmospheric chemistry or personal chemistry?

Pearce – “The Week the Climate Changed” New Scientist

[The amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere was 343.35ppm. At time of writing it was 421ishppm- but for what it is now,well, see here for the latest.]

The context was this – since the early 1970s there had been international meetings of scientists to look at Man’s Impact on the Climate/Environment, in various places (Williamstown, Wijk, Norwich, Villach). From 1972 some of these meetings had been co-sponsored by the UN Environment Program, alongside the World Meteorological Organisation. The models got better, the scientists got surer of what was happening, what might happen…

The Villach 1985 meeting is the one at which the non-carbon-dioxide greenhouse gases got properly added up, and they realised trouble was afoot, less hypothetically and sooner than they’d been thinking…

Why this matters. 

History is good, isn’t it? If you didn’t think that, you’d not be reading this site.

What happened next?

American senators got the message – in December we’ll talk about Carl Sagan’s testimony in December 1985.  The US Department of State, nervous about being bounced into binding international action on carbon dioxide the way they had been about ozone, decided to slow the whole thing down and make sure governments got to vet scientific statements…

Categories
United Kingdom

October 14, 1974 – UK Chief Scientific Advisor is warned about carbon dioxide build-up.

On this day, October 14 in 1974, a UK Cabinet Office civil servant tells his boss about this climate change issue, after having been told about it by German Professor Hermann Flohn.

“The first example I have found of this route is in 1974. Dr P.T. Warren, a Cabinet Office civil servant, reported a conversation to Dr Robert Press [Robert Press], who was the acting chief scientific adviser between April 1974 and 1976. Warren had been at a meeting examining the forces shaping Europe over the next 30 years (Lord Kennet’s Europe plus Thirty project[Europe Plus 30]). There, he had spoken with Professor Hermann Flohn, a respectable climatologist from Bonn and one of the leading researchers into anthropogenic climate change. Flohn clearly impressed on Warren the necessity of taking the subject seriously. 

Warren told Press: 

“His organization has now achieved a ‘reasonable’ model for world climate and this leads to some very worrying predictions when data are fed in on the present output of CO2 into the atmosphere. As I understood him, and I should add that he is no over-zealous enthusiast of the doom-watch school but fully aware of all the limits to modelling, the dangers of premature judgements etc, there is a real likelihood that by the year 2100 the polar ice-caps will disappear if the increase in CO2 in the atmosphere continued at its present rate.”   

TNA CAB 164/1379. Warren to Press, 14 October 1974   

Agar 2015

[The amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere was 327.28ppm. At time of writing it was 421ishppm- but for what it is now,well, see here for the latest.]

The context was this – in the aftermath of the 1972 Stockholm conference, more work was afoot about climate modelling (the July-August workshop in Wijk had just happened).

The very hot European summer had led to a certain amount of media speculation as well…

Btw – Flohn, who pops up a lot,  was a total mensch on all this – a really important briefer of people, including Olaf Palme. He died in 1997, and deserves more recognition than he has had.

Why this matters. 

UK Government awareness of climate change did not begin in 1988

What happened next?

Press’s successor as Chief Scientific Adviser, Sir John Ashworth, kept going on the climate issue. Eventually, in 1980, he briefed Margaret Thatcher who was apparently incredulous and said “you want me to worry about the weather?”