All Our Yesterdays

@allouryesterdays

Daily "on this day" posts abt climate history - science, politics, protest, technology, etc (from 1661 to 2024). Also interviews, commentary. Ideas for posts? Tag or chat... Run by @marchudson.bsky.social

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All Our Yesterdays@allouryesterdays· 27d

July 15th in climate history - a thread. Besides Jimmy Carter's malaise speech (1979) a lot going on 🧵 1/10

July 15, 1968 – first(?) UK government attention to the possibility of climate change

July 15, 1972 – Soviet Weekly on how man affects the weather…

July 15, 1977 – “Heavy Use of Coal May Bring Adverse Shift in Climate”

July 15, 1988 – “Racing on Capitol Hill for Title of “Mr Greenhouse”

July 15, 1991 – RIP Roger Revelle

July 15, 1994 – ALP and BCA in good cop bad cop routine

July 15, 2005 – The “Stern Review” into #climate is announced…

All Our Yesterdays@allouryesterdays· 27d

I think this should be better known.

Screengrab of Twitter post by UN Sec General Antonio Gueterres

Climate activists are sometimes depicted as dangerous radicals.

But the truly dangerous radicals are the countries that are increasing the production of fossil fuels.

Investing in new fossil fuels infrastructure is moral and economic madness

All Our Yesterdays@allouryesterdays· 27d

July 15, 1994 – ALP and BCA in good cop/bad cop routine allouryesterdays.info/2025/07/14/j...

Thirty one years ago, on this day, July 15th, 1994, a former Treasurer admits that there is a “good cop bad cop” routine going on with the peak business body.

The Business Council of Australia was the dominant influence on Labor’s reform agenda in the past decade, at the expense of other employer groups and the party’s traditional union supporters, according to the former Treasurer Mr John Dawkins.

Such was the intimacy of the relationship, Mr Dawkins claimed, that it had been useful on occasions to have the BCA appear to be a critic of the Government’s performance.

Williams, P. and Ellis, S. (1994) DAWKINS KISSES AND TELLS ON BCA. Australian Financial Review, July 15.

All Our Yesterdays@allouryesterdays· 27d

July 15, 1979 – Carter’s “malaise” speech allouryesterdays.info/2026/07/14/j...

President Jimmy Carter giving malaise speech

All Our Yesterdays@allouryesterdays· 28d

Seems someone has recaptioned an older cartoon -

All Our Yesterdays@allouryesterdays· 28d

Cartoon of four horsemen of the apocalypse (cowled figures labelled war famine pestilence and death). Death is asking a fifth horseman "And you are...?) The fifth horsemen, clutching a mobile phone, says "Scientific understatement."

All Our Yesterdays@allouryesterdays· 29d

Of. Brutal truth from 1970s. Thank goodness we white people are soooo much better now. marchudson.net/wp-content/u...

All Our Yesterdays@allouryesterdays· Jul 10

July 11, 1989 – Australia says “sure, we’ll take #climate refugees.” Yeah, nah. allouryesterdays.info/2022/07/10/j...

On this day, July 11, 1989, the 20th South Pacific Forum closed

“Both Australia and New Zealand indicated that they and the rest of the world would undoubtably be prepared to take humanitarian action in moving people driven out by rising waters” reported Steve Burrell in an article titled “ENVIRONMENT DOMINATES FORUM” from Tarawa, Kiribati, The Australian Financial Review, 12 July 1989.

And everything Australia has done since then I am sure gives confidence to people living in that part of the world that everything will be just fine…

All Our Yesterdays@allouryesterdays· Jul 10

July 11, 1979 – New York Times warns about carbon dioxide build-up "WASHINGTON, July 10— In a report to the Council on Environmental Quality, a group of scientists warned today of the rapidly growing impact of carbon dioxide on the earth’s climate and ..." allouryesterdays.info/2026/07/10/j...

New York Times for July 11 1979, article titled Scientists Warn US Of Carbon Dioxide Peril.

All Our Yesterdays@allouryesterdays· Jul 8

The Left really does have its thought police. freedomnews.org.uk/2023/01/26/r...

Regarding an anarchist writer’s position within the traditional Conservative/Labour divide, Sophie observes that when Labour was in power, Colin’s writing was more serious and theoretical. There was a chance that some of his positions on housing and education would actually influence policy. When there was a Conservative government, his style was more informal and anecdotal as, in his regular columns, he tried to exemplify an everyman bringing common sense to the materialist ideology. Ironically, it was a Blairite editor of New Statesman and Society who axed Colin’s weekly column in 1996, as only those supporting New Labour were allowed a voice. A quote I hadn’t seen before illustrates this:

‘I am plagued by other people’s ideologies. A whole series of writers, George Orwell, Colin MacInnes or Dora Russell have complained that they could say what they like in the uncommitted or even right-wing press. Only when they wrote for nothing in the left-wing press were they bullied into toeing someone else’s line.’

All Our Yesterdays@allouryesterdays· Jul 8

Barbat often wrote a page 8 article. This time though, there was (spiky) correspondence with "Soft Energy Paths" guru Amory Lovins… 8/9

All Our Yesterdays@allouryesterdays· Jul 8

"NATURAL CLIMATE VARIATION, EVIDENCE OF CO2 INDUCED CHANGE, AND THE DOE PROGRAM "J. Hays:... If we have to worry that, in fact, the CO2 effect is already occurring, then W. Broecker isn't going to get his model done in time to help us, nor will other modelers. 7/9

All Our Yesterdays@allouryesterdays· Jul 8

Wally Broecker, oceanographer, is quoted "I went before Congress about 2 weeks ago, and what the congressmen are interested in is not so much the CO2 problem, and not so much the general circulation models. What they’d really like to know is something about how much sea level might rise..." 6/9

All Our Yesterdays@allouryesterdays· Jul 8

Page 5 was usually mostly/entirely taken up with an image. In this case - New Zealand Temperature 1853-1975 from “The New Zealand Temperature Series” by M.J.Salinger, Climate Monitor Sept-Nov 1980 5/9

Graph of temperature increase in New Zealand between 1853 and 1975

All Our Yesterdays@allouryesterdays· Jul 8

Every Newsletter had "Excerpts from recent reports" ‘Greenhouse Effect - Act now, not later’. by Wendy Barnaby, NATURE 19 February 1981: “The theme that the time has come for policy-makers to take account of CO2 when drawing up energy policies ran through an Earthscan meeting last week" 4/9

list of excerpts from recent reports in Vol 2 no 4

All Our Yesterdays@allouryesterdays· Jul 8

He wrote deeply-researched articles, e.g. “Fourier on the Greenhouse Effect” “The Greenhouse effect of the earth's atmosphere was recognized early in the 19th century by the French physicist Fourier although CO2 was not identified as the source of this heat-retaining effect until mid century.” 3/9

All Our Yesterdays@allouryesterdays· Jul 8

Barbat had been thinking & writing abt CO2 build-up since early 70s. He felt the Carter Administration, & NGOs, weren’t shouting loud enough. "Our studied view is alarmist, and we advocate corrective actions which do not in themselves create worse social and economic problems." 2/9

All Our Yesterdays@allouryesterdays· Jul 8

Vol. 2, no. 4 of the CO2 Newsletter, April-May 1981 is now downloadable. Founded by American geologist William Barbat, each was 8 pages of excerpts from recent reports, editorials and deeply researched articles. All 18 issues are heart-breakers. 1/9 allouryesterdays.info/2026/07/08/c...

All Our Yesterdays@allouryesterdays· Jul 7

30 yrs ago today - July 8, 1996 – Australian business whining about climate change policy, of course. allouryesterdays.info/2026/07/07/j...

Thirty years ago, on this day, July 8th, 1996,

“Australian industry will argue this week that proposed greenhouse measures will slow growth in the global economy, with Australia among the countries that would be hardest hit by a fall in trade.”

“When green and gold don’t mix.” The Australian Financial Review, 8 July 1996,

Of course they will.

The amount of carbon dioxide in the air was 362ppm. 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.

All Our Yesterdays@allouryesterdays· Jul 7

But CCS is definitely going to save the world. Oh yes.

Energy Intelligence reported that ExxonMobil has surrendered approximately 850,000 acres of offshore carbon storage leases in the Gulf of Mexico, while Air Products cancelled its planned $4.5 billion Louisiana CCS and blue hydrogen hub.

All Our Yesterdays@allouryesterdays· Jul 7

Same speech. I wonder if there is a scene to this effect in Mr Nolan's latest little film.

I cannot omit to mention here an anecdote which I read the other day in an old book on the same subject: —" When Ulysses, after a 10 years' absence, was returning from Troy and coming home, he found his aged father in the field planting trees. He asked him why, being now so far advanced in years, he would put himself to the fatigue and labor of planting that of which he was never likely to enjoy the fruits. Ihe good old man, taking his son for a stranger, gently replied—I plant for my son, Ulysses, when he comes home."

All Our Yesterdays@allouryesterdays· Jul 7

1870!! trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/ar...

Screengrab of opening paragraphs of an account of an 1870 meeting of the Adelaide Philosophical Society.

All Our Yesterdays@allouryesterdays· Jul 7

Any takers on the year (it's earlier than you think).

Let us hope that the times are past for ever when the progress of civilization was equal to wasting and desolating the surrounding nature. One thing is certain —a broad strip of waste land follows in the wake of culture, and noxious weeds like henbean, solanum thistles, nettles. &c., serve to mark the footsteps of men. Before him—nature in all her beauty—behind him desolation and hopeless waste. Looking at this picture, we have no cause at all to be proud of being called the Lords of Creation; but let us hope, that the future generations will be wiser than the past ones.

All Our Yesterdays@allouryesterdays· Jul 6

I did this spoof newspaper in the aftermath of the first Camp for Climate Action, almost 20 years ago. "Scientists admit climate change reports wrong: It's actually far, far worse." And here we are.

All Our Yesterdays@allouryesterdays· Jul 4

July 5, 2000 – Centre for “Independent” Studies at peak intellectual capacity allouryesterdays.info/2026/07/04/j...

Twenty six years ago, on this day, July 5th 2000,

“In the Courier-Mail on July 5 2000, another luminary from the Centre for Independent Studies, Barry Maley, argued that “Australia should heed a petition opposing the [Kyoto] treaty signed by over 17,000 American scientists.”

This sign-on internet petition includes the signatures of “Dr Jerri Halliwell” (a.k.a. Ginger Spice), and Drs Burns, Honeycutt and Pierce — from the television sit-com MASH. “ https://www.greenleft.org.au/content/climate-conference-cook-books

The amount of carbon dioxide in the air was 370ppm. 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.

All Our Yesterdays@allouryesterdays· Jul 2

Any takers on the year? "Most of the experts agree that the atmosphere of the world is being changed by civilisation. Carbon dioxide, the gas which exists in tiny quantities in the air, is now being poured into the atmosphere in vast quantities by the burning of almost all modern fuels...."

Most of the experts agree that the atmosphere of the world is being changed by civilisation. Carbon dioxide, the gas which exists in tiny quantities in the air, is now being poured into the atmosphere in vast quantities by the burning of almost all modern fuels. Carbon dioxide has the property of acting as a "sun trap", letting the sun's radiation reach the ground, and then preventing the heat caused by the radiation from escaping back in to the sky again.

All Our Yesterdays@allouryesterdays· Jul 2

Ah, the money you would lose betting against Jim Hansen.

All Our Yesterdays@allouryesterdays· Jul 2

"Fascinating" Yeah, sure, but other adjectives are possible.

Screengrab of the top of an article about the Greenhouse Effect, with a male and female scientist looking at a globe in a greenhouse

All Our Yesterdays@allouryesterdays· Jul 1

38 yrs ago - July 2, 1988 – Scientists warn of devastation… TORONTO, Friday (KRD).—Toronto scientists & policymakers from 46 nations say global damage from “greenhouse” warming ... may ultimately be second in magnitude only to the devastation of a nuclear war. allouryesterdays.info/2024/07/01/j...

TORONTO, Friday (KRD).—Toronto scientists and policymakers from 46 nations say global damage from “greenhouse” warming and other man-made atmospheric changes may ultimately be second in magnitude only to the devastation of a nuclear war.

They also called on industrialised countries to tax fossil-fuel consumption to finance a fund to protect the atmosphere and drastically cut carbon-dioxide emissions.

Anon, 1988. Scientists warn of devastation. The Canberra Times, 2 July, p.6.

All Our Yesterdays@allouryesterdays· Jul 1

July 2, 1988 – end of the third meeting of the AGGG allouryesterdays.info/2026/07/01/j...