Categories
biodiversity

August 26, 2003 – Australian “plan” to save biodiversity

Twenty years ago, on this day, August 26, 2003, another “announceable” plan was launched. People who want to believe it can. Those who don’t can be dismissed as malcontents and trouble-makers…

Kemp Acts to Protect Australia’s Biodiversity from Climate Change – 26 August 2003

Federal Minister for the Environment and Heritage, Dr David Kemp, today announced a new nationwide strategic approach to protect Australia’s biodiversity from the impacts of climate change.

“The Australian Government, together with the States and Territories, is developing a National Biodiversity and Climate Change Action Plan,” Dr Kemp said.

“Together we have appointed an all-governments task force to work on the Plan as a matter of urgency. Their first step is an Australia-wide consultation process which will kick off in early September, with the draft Plan to be submitted to the Natural Resource Management Ministerial Council in April next year.

The amount of carbon dioxide in the air was roughly xxxppm. As of 2023 it is 423ppm, but check here for daily measures. 

The context was that the Howard government by this stage had ruled out an emissions trading scheme (twice), it had also ruled out Kyoto ratification. So its one green pretend thing was a biodiversity strategy – nevermind that 20 years previously a National Conservation Strategy for Australia had been created. At least this would create working groups and workshops and task forces and interim reports and draft reports and press releases which would keep everyone occupied while the planet was being turned into a denuded barren wasteland of s***.

What I think we can learn from this

That when they are needing to gild the turd governments will announce the creation of new strategies/task forces/workshops etc and this will seduce enough willingly-ignorant or just plain thick and naive people as a substitute for doing anything. Works every time.

What happened next

I don’t know. Did such a strategy get created? I haven’t bothered to look. Doesn’t matter, because the natural world is getting turned to a crisp by us. What a species we are.

UPDATE – A strategy did get created. You can read it here. Thanks to Georgina on Twitter for the link.

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

Categories
United Kingdom

August 26, 1973 – Sir Kingsley Dunham points out the C02 problem

On this day, fifty years ago, Sir Kingsley Dunham gave a presidential address, with the title “The Advancement of Environmental Science”  to the Canterbury Meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science.  In it, he noted the following

“Unfortunately, a development of energy sources sufficient to make possible universal living standards equivalent to the highest achieved at present would, according to some calculations, raise the whole temperature of the atmosphere and seas to an extent dangerous to life. Here the meteorologists and oceanographers must assess this risk as they reach greater understanding of all the circulatory processes involved. The great tropical experiment of the Global Atmospheric Research Programme of the World Meteorological Organisation and the International Council of Scientific Unions shortly to begin, is an important step towards fuller understanding of processes in a zone so far too little known. Regarding the possibility of a general global rise of temperature, the effect of accumulation of carbon dioxide in the upper atmosphere producing a greenhouse effect (Wilson & Matthews 1970), has been widely discussed, especially in the light of Swedish observations indicating a possible increase of 18 per cent of this gas in the atmosphere by the year 2000 because of the combustion of fossil fuels. A question, which insufficient data at present makes it impossible to answer, is whether a rise in temperature dangerous to life will have occurred before combustion of carbonaceous fuels comes to its end.”

The amount of carbon dioxide in the air was roughly xxxppm. As of 2023 it is 423ppm , but check here for daily measures. 

The context was – The Limits to Growth and the Stockholm Environment Conference were just over a year old. But the issues they raised were not going away, and people still wanted to talk about this stuff.

What we can learn – the threat of carbon dioxide wasn’t abstruse.  People knew.

What happened next – the first oil shock meant that politicians and planners had less time/bandwidth for environmental issues (and were using the wrong tools anyway).

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.

Categories
Australia

August 25, 2013 – The IPA loses support, for being stupid climate deniers.

Ten years ago, on this day, August 25, 2013, the vicious stupid thugs at the Institute for Public Affairs lose some corporate funding (but of course can then turn that around to proclaim their fearless independence).

Some of the world’s largest companies have dropped financial support and membership for the free-market think tank the Institute of Public Affairs amid concern at its vociferous campaign against action on climate change.

Petroleum giants ExxonMobil and Shell and large miners are among the multinationals that have confirmed leaving the Liberal-linked IPA, led by party member John Roskam, who this year was compared to Jesus Christ with his disciples by Opposition Leader Tony Abbott.

Schneiders, B. and Millar, R. 2013. Climate hard line costs IPA support. Sydney Morning Herald, 25 August.

http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/federal-election-2013/climate-hard-line-costs-ipa-support-20130824-2sirk.html

The amount of carbon dioxide in the air was roughly xxxppm. As of 2023 it is 423ppm423 , but check here for daily measures. 

The context was that IPA had been a proud culture warrior in defeating Gillard’s carbon price and generally being asses. But this kind of “swinging for the fences” mentality comes with risks and costs, as we have seen already with the Global Climate Coalition and the Heartland Institute.

What I think we can learn from this is that there are are limits on what funders are willing to risk, and if you go too hard too far too fast some of your more mainstream groups which are also at the same time trying to spin a CSR (corporate social responsibility) line will clutch their pearls for fear of being exposed as hypocrites and being subject to consumer boycotts and so forth.

What’s interesting is sometimes the culture warriors just forget that there are limits and you saw this happened with Monkton with the swastika comment. They get trigger happy/high on their own supply and the Red Mist descends and they lose touch with what is going to fly and what isn’t.

What happened next

The IPA to my knowledge has continued to be asshat on climate change but I have not bothered to see whether they have dialled it down a notch, maybe someone can tell us.

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.

Categories
Australia

August 24, 1989 – a Sydney council takes greenhouse suggestions on-board (or says it will).

Thirty four years ago, on this day, August 24, 1989, Sydney councillors start to take note of citizen ideas for tackling “the greenhouse effect”. And use it to put the spotlight on the feds.

A concerned citizen’s letter has prompted Leichhardt Council to send three submissions to a Senate committee inquiring into ways of reducing the impact of the greenhouse effect.

The submissions, from Alderman Issy Wyner, as chairman of the council’s environment pollution control panel, Dr Ken Sullivan, president of the Clean Air Society of Australia and New Zealand, and Mr John Mara, council’s deputy chief health and building surveyor, were posted on Friday.

Mr N. G. Hyde, of Kingsgrove, had written to Leichhardt Council, expressing his concern about the greenhouse effect and depletion of the ozone layer.

“He probably wrote to every council but it stimulated a response from us,”Mr Mara said.

“We kept the matter on the agenda by writing to the Federal Environment Minister, Senator Richardson, and his NSW counterpart, Mr Moore, for advice, and picking up information from newspapers and journals.”

Bilic, J. 1989. Council officers greenhouse tips. Sydney Morning Herald, 24 August. 

The amount of carbon dioxide in the air was roughly xxxppm. As of 2023 it is 423ppm, but check here for daily measures. 

The context was that everyone was running around with urgency and ideas for dealing with what was then called the greenhouse effect. People who understood it knew that early action was not only preferable but necessary because once it has got out of hand it wouldn’t just be “too expensive to do anything about” but “impossible ti do anything about.”

This was at a federal state and local level in Australia. (Of course we had had the Brundtland Report by now, which emphasised the importance of local action).

What I think we can learn from this is that all the rhetoric about responsive government, citizen engagement citizen participation have been with us for generations. And on whole, in most places, it has not taken. And even in the places where it has taken it needs persistent consistent effort because the culture of atomization of neoliberalization of techno-salvationism is very very strong.

What happened next – they gave us the language of Local Agenda 21, but local councils went back to doing what they do best – being secretive, flogging off state assets including publicly-owned land to developers in exchange for brown envelopes and acting as a career launch pad and finishing academy for ambitious young politicians wanting to be an MP, and general “snout in the trough” opportunities for others

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.

Categories
Uncategorized

August 23, 1971 – the Powell Memorandum

Fifty two years ago, on this day, August 23, 1971, a blueprint for survival (of corporate capitalism) was sent, written by a guy who then got appointed to the Supreme Court by Tricky Dick Nixon.

1971 Powell Memorandum – https://www.greenpeace.org/usa/democracy/the-lewis-powell-memo-a-corporate-blueprint-to-dominate-democracy/

The amount of carbon dioxide in the air was roughly 326ppm. As of 2023 it is 423ppm, but check here for daily measures. 

The context was that the American elites were becoming more and more worried  about the upsurge in citizen action after the quiescent 1950s. By 1971 it wasn’t just the blacks demanding theri civil rights, it was latinos, women, homosexuals, anti-war protesters, environment protesters, you name it. And and the so-called “crisis of democracy” (to use the term from the Trilateral Commission) was becoming a real thing, a real threat. The Powell memorandum is a nice clear summation of how to fight back…

What I think we can learn from this is  that the counter-assault has been quite  successful against the democratisation of society. And the state is not without its strategists, who are able to be clear about what is required and how to get it.

The Powell memorandum makes for interesting, important reading. And if we lived in a democracy it would be taught in schools – that this is what happened, But the very existence of the Powell memorandum shows you that that wouldn’t exist; it’s like the Lewis law and feminism 

The Australian equivalent would be people like Geoff Allen, who set up the Business Council of Australia – but the foundations in Australia are less deep pocketed, there isn’t quite that same mentality.

What happened next

The Powell memorandum became the how-to manual for the American foundations. You have things springing up like the Heritage Foundation in 1973, which has been incredibly influential.

Powell then went on to be a supreme court Justice put in place by Nixon which tells you everything you need to know. 

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.

Categories
Uncategorized

August 23, 1853 – first International Meteorological Conference

One hundred and eighty years ago, on this day, August 23, 1853, scientists from around the world got together in Belgium to hash out some standardised approaches to measuring things.

Enduring cooperation began with the First International Meteorological Conference, held on 23 August 1853 in Brussels. This conference standardised meteorological observations to be taken from ships, by establishing a set of instructions for how to take measurements, and a standard form for recording them. It was organised at the initiative of a naval officer, Lieutenant MF Maury of the United States Navy.

Paterson, M (1996) page 18

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Meteorological_Organization#:~:text=Matthew%20Fontaine%20Maury%2C%20of%20the,the%20Minister%20of%20the%20Interior.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matthew_Fontaine_Maury

The amount of carbon dioxide in the air was roughly xxxppm. As of 2023 it is 423ppm, but check here for daily measures. 

The context was with the coming of the telegraph, and thus international communication and collaboration in collecting measurements became much easier in real time. But then this raises the question of who is using which measures at which time so that you can have a decent database of comparable/accurate info.

What I think we can learn from this is that the nitty gritty work of doing science of measuring things and thinking about causal relations requires good data which requires cooperation and we’ve been doing that successfully for a long time 170 years.

What happened next

The 19th century saw the ongoing assault on nature, the colonisation of Africa (“colonisation” is one nice word – attack, hyper-extraction would do), the development of new Industries (especially chemistry), the coming of electricity, the industrialisation of Europe, and chunks of of the United States. that’s quite some century and in the short-term, on climate science, a few years later you’ve got Eunice Foote and a few years after that John Tyndall…

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

Zilman, J. 2018.

Categories
Australia

August 23, 1971 – nuggets of ecological wisdom from Nugget Coombs.

Fifty two years ago, on this day, August 23, 1971, recently retired Australian civil servant Nugget Coombs delivered a lecture on “ecological and economic realities” at 12th Pacific Conference, Canberra.

The amount of carbon dioxide in the air was roughly xxxppm. As of 2023 it is 423ppm, but check here for daily measures. 

The context was that everyone was running around talking about ecological damage and – as the phrase would come out next year – “the Limits to Growth.” So you have what sounds, even today, as quite radical perspectives. 

The other context is Nugget Coombs had been a very important influential even famous civil servants in Australia. He was recently retired and was able therefore to talk more freely. This paper sets out clearly what was stake.

What I think we can learn from this

 That the language around non growth economy meeting human needs ecological limits. all of this has been around forever well 50 years.

What happened next

Coombs kept active and was still alive 20 years later when the next big wave of “Environmental Concern” came around.

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.

Categories
Australia Carbon Pricing

August 22, 2011 – anti-carbon pricing rally flops

Twelve years ago, on this day, August 22, 2011 , another anti-”carbon tax” rally flops

Come 22 August [2011], the event is a screaming flop. Three hundred people gather on the lawns outside Parliament House, and a ragtag of trucks circle it blowing their horns. Jones, alongside his mate Tony Abbott, addresses the crowd who all holler and howl and demand Gillard’s head over the carbon pricing scheme. Perhaps aware of what a dud he’s partly responsible for, Jones sensationally accuses the ACT Police of stopping ‘thousands’ from attending the rally and blocking ‘hundreds of trucks’ at the ACT border – as he describes it, ‘the most disgraceful thing to happen to our democracy.’

(Walsh, 2013:54-5) The Stalking of Julia Gillard      

An angry crowd of about 300 people gathered on the Australian Parliament lawns as 200 vehicles from all over the country rolled around Canberra blowing their horns, for what protesters called the convoy of no confidence.      Cummings, T. 2011. When things turned ugly. ABC News, 23 August.

There was an ugly confrontation in Canberra yesterday, one that could potentially have been very nasty indeed.

It had nothing to do with politics, nothing to do with the Convoy of No Confidence that rolled into our nation’s capital, nothing to do with the carbon tax, or live exports, or any of that.

and

I wonder whether the Convoy of No Confidence will be an unexpected pivot point in Australian politics.

Carpenter, N. 2011. Convoy Contempt could be of some consequence. The Drum, 29 August. http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-08-29/carpenter-convoy-contempt-could-be-of-some-consequence/2860718

The amount of carbon dioxide in the air was roughly 369.8ppm. As of 2023 it is 423ppm, but check here for daily measures. 

The context was that the first half of 2011 had been totally dominated by the question of an emissions trading scheme. Tony Abbott had made all sorts of outlandish claims about the cost and risk there had been marches and protests, most notoriously on March 23rd in Canberra. This was an attempt to show enormous opposition. But I think many people were tired and bored and realised that by now they had lost, and that Gillard was going to be successful in getting the legislation through.

What I think we can learn from this is that it is not just left wing progressive protest groups who are prone to burnout and exhaustion. There is an emotacycle collapsing also for those who are trying to stand in the way of climate action, who  are also prone to burnout and exhausting themselves.

What happened next 

Julia Gillard’s legislation did indeed get through. The scheme started on the 1st of July 2012 and was then abolished by the next government headed by Tony Abbott. Emissions started climbing again. (There is some argument that the perceived success of the emissions trading scheme was down to more hydro from Tasmania in the national electricity grid at the time).

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/further reading

 Willingham, R. 2011. Convoy of no confidence runs short on revs. Sydney Morning Herald, 23 August 2011.

Categories
Australia

August 22, 2000 – Minchin kills an Australian Emissions Trading Scheme

Twenty three years ago, on this day, August 22, 2000, the first effort at getting an emissions trading scheme for Australia died a death, killed off by climate denier Nick Minchin.

22 August 2000. Cabinet meeting at which Minchin beats Hill on a domestic emissions trading scheme. (See Crabbe, 23 Aug Advertiser etc)

The amount of carbon dioxide in the air was roughly 369ppm. As of 2023 it is 423ppm, but check here for daily measures. 

The context was that there had been lots of talk about emissions trading in the previous two or 3 years both at a national and especially New South Wales level because it seemed Australia might ratify the Kyoto Protocol. And if it did it would want to have its own emission trading scheme and perhaps make lots of money from growing trees. The best laid plans had not really come to fruition, and this was the first body blow – the rejection of a national emissions trading scheme.

What I think we can learn from this is that we have spent a veeery long time coming up with all sorts of visions and schemes rather than reducing our emissions in a safe and fair way by changing behaviours and incentives for energy efficiency etc.

What happened next

John Howard, to no-one’s surprise ruled out Kyoto ratification in 2002. In 2003 the idea of emissions trading scheme came back to cabinet and this time Cabinet was united in favour but Howard vetoed it LINK.

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.

Categories
Energy United Nations

August 21, 1961 – The UN holds a “new sources of energy” conference.

Sixty two years ago, on this day, August 21, 1961, a United Nations conference on new sources of energy began.

21-31 August 1961 UN conference on new sources of energy (see Ritchie-Calder, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, Dec 1961) 

Also his comments on 1975 30 August Science show. (interviewed by Robyn Williams)

The amount of carbon dioxide in the air was roughly 331ppm. As of 2023 it is 423ppm, but check here for daily measures. 

The context was that new sources of energy especially for countries without their own supplies of oil, coal and gas were going to be needed if the world were going to “develop”. There was also the point that fossil fuel supplies were not going to last forever. Climate change was not an issue, at least not one that was publicly discussed and I doubt it got much traction anywhere, because the science was simply not mature enough or well enough known.

What I think we can learn from this is that questions about energy justice have been around for a very long time and we never quite manage to crack it, really.

What happened next, by 1968 environmental problems were obvious enough that Sweden was successful in getting the UN to agree to hold a conference. And one of the topics was what we now call “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

https://digitallibrary.un.org/record/3833582?ln=en