My friend Royce Kurmelovs (you should buy his book Slick: Australia’s toxic relationship with Big Oil, which has been lauded by critics and is short-listed for a Big Award) has a typically stonkingly good article on the Guardian Australia website.
The Australians who sounded the climate alarm 55 years ago: ‘I’m surprised others didn’t take it as seriously’
It’s based on two things. First, an interview he did recently with Richard Gun, who was the first Australian politician to say – in Federal Parliament at least — that carbon dioxide build-up was a very serious problem. Gun said this in his maiden speech, in March 1970. Full disclosure, as stated in the Guardian article, it was me who pointed Royce to this fact).
Second, it takes details from Royce’s book Slick (have you bought it yet? Have you?) about a chemistry professor called Harry Bloom who, a year before Gun’s speech, had told Australian senators pretty much the same thing. The article adds further context to the portion in Slick (which you should buy).
What do we learn?
a) People knew enough to be worried (and in some cases quite emphatically so) a very very long time ago.
b) (Therefore) the problem is only in part about ‘information deficit’.
c) Royce is a journo to watch, and to learn from.
