Fifty five years ago, on this day, July 4th, 1971, a new eco-group gets some publicity in the Sydney Morning Herald.
The amount of carbon dioxide in the air was 325ppm. 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 from late 1969 Australia (as part of a global trend) experienced increased alarm about environmental problems. Various factors, including the publication of the Torrey Canyon, Population Bomb, the Earthrise photo, the Santa Barbara oil spill and action in the US. New groups had been forming through the 1960s (e.g. the Australian Conservation Society), mostly arranged around the idea of politely lobbying.
The specific context was that there were various local struggles going on in Sydney and New South Wales (Clutha etc) and it was pretty clear that the government of Robin Askew was in no mood to pretend to be at all green. (It was famously corrupt, even by NSW standards).
What I think we can learn from this
People could see the ordinary ways weren’t gonna cut it.
What happened next
Ecology Action lasted about ten years. I looked through its newsletters at the National Library of Australia, back in the day. Virtually nothing (as you’d expect) on carbon dioxide build-up.
On this topic, you might like these other posts on All Our Yesterdays
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References
Jim Hagan (1972) Clutha: The politics of pollution, Politics, 7:2, 136-148, DOI:
10.1080/00323267208401287
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:
July 4, 1957 – popular UK magazine The Listener mentions carbon dioxide build-up
July 4, 1989 – UK Energy Committee ponders greenhouse implications
July 4, 1996 – article in Nature saying ‘it’s partly us’
July 4, 2004 – @WWF_Australia try to shame John Howard into #climate action…
