Thirty six years ago, on this day, May 17th, 1990,
‘We will have to make it clear to our electorate how much pain and anguish they will have to suffer in order to save the planet’, said David Trippier, UK Environment Minister
(quoted in the Guardian, 17 May 1990).
The amount of carbon dioxide in the air was roughly 354ppm. As of 2026 it is 430ppm, but check here for daily measures.
The broader context was that the British government had been warned repeatedly about carbon dioxide build up and done nothing. And here we have a specific example. The British government is figuring out what to do about setting reduction targets and what it would do in the case of a climate treaty which is looking more and more likely. And so the British Minister wants to highlight the costs and to try and dampen down enthusiasm for action by talking about the so-called pain and anguish of acting. He doesn’t talk, of course, about the pain and anguish for other species or for future generations, because they’re not going to help him get re-elected. And that’s the distant future, far off countries of which we know little.
The specific context was that everyone was jockeying ahead of upcoming climate negotiations.
What I think we can learn from this is that climate change was the mother of all collective action problems, and we – unsurprisingly – flunked it epically.
What happened next. The British government continued to do very little substantive on climate change, (though, ironically, more than many countries), and here we are.
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.
Also on this day:
May 17, 1968 – “Some prophets of darkness warn of polar icecaps melting…”
May 17, 1969 – Ritchie Calder gives a speech
May 17, 1972 – New York Times reports carbon dioxide build-up worries…