Fifty years ago, on this day, July 27, 1976, South Australian Labor minister Hugh Hudson (no relation) has this to say during a Parliamentary debate –
“I have heard over the past few weeks environmental arguments against any form of providing energy. It is argued that, even if we use up our existing fossil fuel reserves, we are running serious environmental dangers through the excess emission of carbon dioxide, which may or may not increase the temperature of the earth. Of course, I believe it can be demonstrated that if the temperature of the earth rises by as much as one degree or two degrees, the ice caps will start to melt and cities such as Adelaide will turn out to be inappropriately located. It is important, in this energy debate, to recognise that we cannot discuss one form of energy in isolation.
Every form of energy creation has advantages and disadvantages, and a balance must be struck.”
The amount of carbon dioxide in the air was 332ppm. 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 a huge uranium deposit had been discovered in South Australia’s mid-north and there was a lot of debate about whether uranium should be exported or not (fears of proliferation, safety etc etc).
What I think we can learn from this – carbon dioxide build-up was being spoken of even in the provinces (Hudson was no relation, btw).
What happened next. In 1982 a Labor politician switched sides on the vote, the legislation to let Roxby Downs get established passed, and the Opposition leader (John Bannon) flagged that a Bannon administration would not try to turn the clock back…
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On this topic, you might like these other posts on All Our Yesterdays
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References
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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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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 27, 1977 – Pro-nuclear professor cites #climate concerns at Adelaide speech
July 27, 1979 – Thatcher’s Cabinet ponders burying climate report
July 27, 1988 – The greenback effect
July 27, 2001 – COP6-bis ends – the show is back on the road
July 27, 2001 – Minerals Council of Australia versus the Kyoto Protocol