One hundred and fourteen years ago, on this day, September 11th, 1912, an article based on a book by American geologist Charles Richard Van Hise (May 29, 1857 – November 19, 1918) appears…
Lincoln Journal Star (Lincoln, Nebraska) · Wed, 11 Sept 1912 · Page 5
The amount of carbon dioxide in the air was 295ppm. 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 in 1895 Svante Arrhenius had given his lecture and written his article for the Philosophical Magazine. It had had some impact, but not necessarily that much.
The specific context was that, well, see it acknowledged that C H. V. Van Hise had been writing about this and that it had appeared in geography textbooks without anyone raising an eyebrow.
What I think we can learn from this It was simple, straightforward 19th century physics. It wasn’t part of a culture war. It was just accepted.
What happened next Van Hise died in 1918. In 1938 Guy Callendar gave the CO2 theory a big push, and in 1953 Gilbert Plass gave it an even biger one.
On this topic, you might like these other posts on All Our Yesterdays
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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.
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Also on this day:
September 11, 1961 – New York Times reports “Air Found Gaining in Carbon Dioxide”
September 11, 1969 – George Brown proposes an omnibus environment bill
September 11, 1973 – CIA coup topples Chilean democracy
September 11, 1989 – Bill McKibben’s “The End of Nature” published
September 11, 2006 – Australian climate concern hits tipping point (maybe)
September 11, 2015 – Pacific Island leaders fail to shift Australia and New Zealand…