Twenty four years ago, on this day, June 5th, 2001, New South Wales Premier Bob Carr (ALP) promises an advertising blitz
The Carr Government has promised a $17.5million advertising campaign on environmental education, provoking conservationists to demand that the Premier should lead with actions – not words.
The campaign, to run over 3 1/2 years, began on television last night, featuring the theme song It’s a Living Thing, sung by Christine Anu.
The launch follows Labor criticism of Federal Coalition advertising campaigns, most recently attacks on the $6 million Agriculture Advancing Australia campaign, a $3.6 million promotion of the Natural Heritage Trust, and a $3.9 million greenhouse campaign featuring Don Burke.
The NSW campaign will focus on electricity, water and paper.
2001 Woodford, J. 2001. Carr Promises $17.5m TV Blitz For Green Ads. Sydney Morning Herald, June 6, p.3.
The amount of carbon dioxide in the air was roughly 371ppm. As of 2025 it is 430ppm, but check here for daily measures.
The broader context was that Australians had been warned about “the greenhouse effect” very effectively between 1988 and 1991. And had then, largely, chosen to forget/ignore the issue. From 1996 the Federal Government was overtly hostile to all actual climate action, and the states were beginning to pick up some of the slack.
The specific context was that Bob Carr had been switched on to the climate issue in 1971, thanks to a visit by biologist Paul Ehrlich.
What I think we can learn from this is that you can have all the publicity you like, but if you don’t have sustained and sustaining social movement organisations, all the knowledge and concern will just leak away, like tears in the rain.
What happened next – it would be another five years – late 2006 – before Australian civil society would begin to say it cared about climate change.
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.
References
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Also on this day: