Report - Global Governments Knew Climate Risks From Fossil Fuels Since 1957's International Geophysical Year

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The “What Countries Knew” report, released Wednesday by the Center for International Environmental Law, traces when climate scientists first presented governments in the United States, Australia, Canada, Germany, Italy, Norway, the United Kingdom and the combined Soviet Union and Russia with research outlining the risks posed by the emissions from burning fossil fuels.

Those countries are responsible for about 40 percent of all emissions since the fossil fuel era began in the late 1800s. Summaries and transcripts from conferences cited in the report indicate that those governments and others were discussing the risks of rising global temperature, melting polar ice caps and sea-level rise as early as 1957, during the International Geophysical Year. The warnings grew more urgent in the 1960s just as governments and economies of industrialized and industrializing countries placed nearly all their chips on fossil-fueled growth. In 1965, scientists warned U.S. President Lyndon Johnson that rising carbon dioxide could cause “marked changes” in climate. About the same time, researchers at Norway’s and Italy’s state-owned oil companies warned of potential climate impacts while governments encouraged them to expand. As the reports and warnings piled up, newsreel footage in Germany celebrated record coal hauls with images of miners grinning through sooty faces, and federally subsidized oil production in the U.S. meant prosperity and the freedom to “Put a Tiger in Your Tank” at an Esso gas station.

Lindsay Fenlock, a senior researcher with the Center for International Environmental Law and lead author of the report, said she was continually surprised by the breadth of international government awareness of climate impacts with a “threat of serious implications” as she combed through decades of materials archived from the pre-internet era. During the International Geophysical Year, about 70 countries collaborated to study Earth as an interconnected system and measure the growing effects of human activities on the planet, she said. The same year, a study by American scientists Roger Revelle and Hans Suess characterized the rising amount of CO2 in the air as an unprecedented and irreversible “large-scale geophysical experiment” unlike anything in human history.

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The report illustrates that the early scientific evidence “didn’t stay in a drawer or on a shelf,” she said. “It was being published, disseminated. Their information was communicated directly to government officials, sometimes at the highest levels and to the broader public. “All this information,” she said, “was in the hands of those who could have acted.”

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https://insideclimatenews.org/news/15072026/governments-knew-global-warming-risks/

[NNadir]

1. Svante Arrhenius (1859-1827) predicted as much in 1896.

He is considered one of the founders of physical chemistry. The Arrhenius equation is still fundamental to chemists in the determination of chemical reactions as well as the energy required to initiate them.

He was the third winner of the Nobel Prize in chemistry in 1903.

This outcome has not been mysterious for well over a century.

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2. His take was that it might be beneficial, but as he was a Swede, can't say I blame him . . .

My favorite climatology tidbit - the first foundational pieces of global warming science predate the Civil War - Eunice Foote and her discovery that CO2 and water vapor both absorb heat from sunlight.

[NNadir]

3. Freeman Dyson, who worked on the modern understanding of climate science with Alvin Weinberg...

...also thought it might be a "good thing."

When I met with him, I actually avoided discussing climate issues to avoid getting kicked out since I'm a bit of a hothead on the topic. There was plenty to talk about other than climate, including the Triga research nuclear reactors he designed in the 50's. He said his part was relatively minor; he attributed the real work to the Iranian American materials scientist Massoud Simnad who he referred to as a "chemist." The tricky part was making the uranium hydride fuel.

That afternoon in Dyson's office was one of the most remarkable afternoons of my lifetime.

I have a picture of me, my sons and him in my office.

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4. International Geophysical Year - IGY

Donald Fagan captured the mood in his wonderfully sarcastic song, IGY. It's still pretty relevant as we move into a world dominated by AI, Climate Change and Drones buzzing around our neighborhoods.

&list=RDUeivjr3f8xg&start_radio=1

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5. "Just machines to make big decisions, programmed by fellas with compassion and vision".

As if . . .

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6. Yeah, as a programmer that was always my favorite LOL.