Forty-five years ago today, May 14, 1979, American diplomat Harlan Cleveland made the point that the build-up of carbon dioxide had gone, over the last ten years, from obscure to “almost common knowledge.”
The amount of carbon dioxide in the air was roughly 336ppm. As of 2024 it is 425ppm, but check here for daily measures.
The context was that Aspen had been hosting academics and policy wonks on the climate issue for most of the 1970s (see the book “The Great Adaptation” for more details
What we learn is that by the late 1970s, and especially in the aftermath of the first World Climate Conference, educated/informed people knew that there was probably trouble ahead.
What happened next, the climate issue finally got traction in 1988. And the emissions are almost 70% higher than they were then.
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.
H/t to Cyrus Mody!
Also on this day:
May 14, 2002 – well-connected denialists gather in Washington DC to spout #climate nonsense