Seven years ago, on this day, August 18th, 2019,
“Iceland’s Okjokull glacier commemorated with plaque”
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-49345912
The amount of carbon dioxide in the air was 412ppm. 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 warnings about shrinking glaciers and rising sea levels since the 1950s Those warnings had become more emphatic with each passing year as the atmospheric concentrations of CO2 climbed.
The specific context was Glenn Albeicht had invented the word solastalgia, which seems to fit here.
What I think we can learn from this is that humans are capable of mourning, not just the passing of their own species or other sentient species, but also of beautiful, long-lasting aspects of this wonderful planet that we are trashing because we know what’s at stake. We know that we have not been custodians or guardians. We have not obeyed the invocations to be careful, to be carers.
What happened next We weaponized and encouraged our worst impulses, and that is having consequences. We are in the Fafocene,
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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:
August 18, 1975 – it’s gonna get hotter, not cooler, say scientists
August 18, 1996, Ex-CSIRO #climate boss shows he has lost the plot