Thirty five years ago, on this day, May 16th, 1991,
Australia would have to take thousands of environmental refugees from the Pacific if greenhouse seas drowned their island homes, a defence strategist said in Melbourne on Thursday [16th].
Professor Des Ball, of the Australian National University, said rising sea levels caused by global warming threatened the survival of several South Pacific islands.
Anon, 1991. Greenhouse refugees from islands. Green Week, May 21, p.8.
The amount of carbon dioxide in the air was roughly 356ppm. As of 2026 it is 430ppm, but check here for daily measures.
The broader context was that it was obvious, again, from the late 70s, earlier in fact, that there would be massive geopolitical implications of rising sea levels. One of these was that the low lying island states would get screwed and the humans would have to go somewhere.
The specific context was that here in Australia, it was well understood that this would be a problem. And here we have a security analyst, Des Ball, stating the obvious.
What I think we can learn from this we’ve known, we’ve known this would cause havoc and chaos and disaster. Still, we didn’t act because we could kick the ball down the road, the tin can down the road.
What happened next. Well, eventually, by the mid 2000s the Labour Party in the in Australia was producing hand-wringing documents, and another 20 years later, there would begin to be agreements to evacuate some people from Tuvalu.
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 16, 1972 – “Carbon and the Biosphere” symposium
May 16, 1973 Energy and how we live. UNESCO seminar at Flinders – All Our Yesterdays
May 16, 2005 – Anthony Albanese says critical action on #climate being delayed by 20 years… #auspol
May 16, 2006 – UK Prime Minister Tony Blair goes nuclear…
May 16, 2005 – Anthony Albanese, eco-warrior…
May 16 – Interview with Rosie, about zero population growth, zero climate progress, etc…