Sixty years ago, on this day, June 16th, 1965, a senior science civil servant writes to James Lovelock, telling him to get ready to do some work on atmospheric pollution.
This request can be dated more precisely to a letter from Rothschild to Lovelock in which the former writes: “there are many problems cooking in Shell about which we shall need your help” (Victor Rothschild, letter to Lovelock, 16 June 1965, box 76, part 3, Archive Collection of Professor James Lovelock, Science Museum Library and Archives, Science Museum at Wroughton).
5. Lovelock, Gaia: A New Look at Life on Earth (New York, 1979), p. 8.
The amount of carbon dioxide in the air was roughly xxxppm. As of 2025 it is 430ppm, but check here for daily measures.
The broader context was that Shell had been aware of the possibility of carbon dioxide heating the planet at the ABSOLUTE latest by 1958 – see their article in New Scientist (realistically, they must have known about it from 1953 – Gilbert Plass’s announcement at the AGU in May 1953 can not have gone unnoticed).
The specific context was in the United States, research was gathering pace. In 1963 there had been the one day meeting of the Conservation Foundation, and in February 1965 newly-elected President Lyndon Johnson had sent a special message to Congress about “Natural Beauty” that name-checked carbon dioxide build-up.
What I think we can learn from this
As human beings – sixty years ago ‘responsible’ people were beginning to think “himmm”.
As “active citizens” – responsible people will be the death of us.
What happened next Lovelock produced reports (see here). Rothschild wanted one kept on the down low.
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.
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).
References
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Also on this day:
June 16, 1971 – “Ecology Action” formed in Sydney. – All Our Yesterdays
