Mastodawn

Frank Gresslin Apr 30, 2023

One of the most troubling facts of the #ClimateCrisis is that we knew about the impacts of burning #FossilFuels for almost two centuries. Climate science emerged in the mid-19th century. Predictions were published in the 1950s. US President Carter and UK PM Thatcher warned of climate change in the 70s & 80s. Yet, in 2023 carbon emissions are still rising while Governments are still licensing new coal, oil & gas projects. This is a thread that explores the #History of #ClimateChange. 🧵 #cchistory

Frank Gresslin Apr 30, 2023

1. A brief history
2. 1856: Eunice Foote
3. 1896: Svante Arrhenius
4. 1966: Mining Congress Journal
5. 1970: Paper predicts societal collapse
6. 1977: White House memo
7. 1982: Exxon scientists
8. 1988: Hansen’s testimony
9. 1989: Thatcher's UN address
10. Sixty years of warnings
11. ExxonMobil’s communications
12. The Lie-brary
13. “Scope 3” liability
14. Historic responsibility
15. Net zero is a dangerous trap
16. 1.5°C: where the target came from
17. 1953: Gilbert Plass
#cchistory

Frank Gresslin Apr 30, 2023

A brief history of climate change

A list of key milestones from the beginning of the industrial revolution to recent years. #cchistory

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-15874560

A brief history of climate change

BBC News environment correspondent Richard Black traces key milestones, scientific discoveries, technical innovations and political action.

BBC News

Frank Gresslin Apr 30, 2023

Scientists understood physics of climate change in the 1800s – thanks to a woman named #EuniceFoote

"[In 1856] Foote conducted a simple experiment. She put a thermometer in each of two glass cylinders, pumped carbon dioxide gas into one and air into the other and set the cylinders in the Sun." #cchistory

https://theconversation.com/scientists-understood-physics-of-climate-change-in-the-1800s-thanks-to-a-woman-named-eunice-foote-164687

Scientists understood physics of climate change in the 1800s – thanks to a woman named Eunice Foote

The results of Foote’s simple experiments were confirmed through hundreds of tests by scientists in the US and Europe. It happened more than a century ago.

The Conversation

Frank Gresslin Apr 30, 2023

#SvanteArrhenius, the Man Who Foresaw Climate Change

[In 1896] "[Arrhenius] also warned that if those same [CO2] levels increased by 50%, the planet would experience a warming of between 5 and 6°C" #cchistory

https://www.bbvaopenmind.com/en/science/leading-figures/svante-arrhenius-the-man-who-foresaw-climate-change/

Svante Arrhenius, the Man Who Foresaw Climate Change | OpenMind

Svante Arrhenius, awarded with the Nobel prize, discovered at the end of the 19th century that CO2 emissions caused an increase in the planet's temperature.

OpenMind

Frank Gresslin Apr 30, 2023

Coal Knew, Too

#MiningCongressJournal 1966: “Such changes in temperature will cause melting of the polar icecaps, which, in turn, would result in the inundation of many coastal cities, including New York and London” #cchistory

https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/coal-industry-climate-change_n_5dd6bbebe4b0e29d7280984f

Coal Knew, Too

A newly unearthed journal from 1966 shows the coal industry, like the oil industry, was long aware of the threat of climate change.

HuffPost UK

Frank Gresslin Apr 30, 2023

A 1970s paper predicted #SocietalCollapse in 2040 – here’s what the analyst who confirmed it says

"Overall, the new findings aligned closely with the 1970s study and concluded that civilisation can expect a halt to economic growth in the next 20 years and, in the worst-case scenario, see societal collapse around 2040." #cchistory

https://www.independent.co.uk/climate-change/news/social-collapse-harvard-paper-prediction-b2104214.html

Analyst who confirmed 2040 global collapse prediction says there’s still hope

Her Harvard thesis offers a bleak outlook on the course of civilization but sustainability expert Gaya Herrington tells Louise Boyle that the worst-case scenario is not inevitable. ‘We need to completely re-envision what our role is in the world’

The Independent

Frank Gresslin Apr 30, 2023

The 1977 #WhiteHouse climate memo that should have changed the world

“We must start now to develop the new, unconventional sources of energy we will rely on in the next century,” [US president Jimmy Carter] said in an address to the nation. #cchistory

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/jun/14/1977-us-presidential-memo-predicted-climate-change

The 1977 White House climate memo that should have changed the world

Years before the climate crisis was part of national discourse, this memo to the president predicted catastrophe

The Guardian

Frank Gresslin Apr 30, 2023

One Oil Company Expertly Predicted This Week's CO2 Milestone Almost 40 Years Ago

"As far back as 1982 – 37 years ago – #Scientists working for oil and gas giant #Exxon expertly predicted the shape of climate change to come." #cchistory

https://www.sciencealert.com/exxon-expertly-predicted-this-week-s-nightmare-co2-milestone-almost-40-years-ago

One Oil Company Expertly Predicted This Week's CO2 Milestone Almost 40 Years Ago

The news this week was shocking: Earth's atmosphere hit a catastrophic new peak of carbon pollution.

ScienceAlert

Frank Gresslin Apr 30, 2023

Judgment on #JamesHansen’s ’88 climate testimony: ‘He was right’

"Our computer climate simulations indicate that the greenhouse effect is large enough to begin to affect the probability of extreme events such as summer heat waves. … It is changing our climate now." #cchistory

https://yaleclimateconnections.org/2018/06/judgment-on-hansens-88-climate-testimony-he-was-right/

Judgment on Hansen’s ’88 climate testimony: ‘He was right’

Climate scientists' consensus: James Hansen 'got it right' in congressional global warming testimony 30 years ago this week.

Yale Climate Connections

Frank Gresslin Apr 30, 2023

#MargaretThatcher: How PM legitimised green concerns

"On November 8, 1989 [Thatcher] told the UN: "While the conventional, political dangers [...] appear to be receding, we have all recently become aware of another insidious danger. It is the prospect of irretrievable damage to the atmosphere, to the oceans, to earth itself." #cchistory

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-22069768

Margaret Thatcher: How PM legitimised green concerns

Why Margaret Thatcher did more than any major politician of her time to legitimise environmental concerns.

BBC News

Frank Gresslin Apr 30, 2023

#SixtyYears of climate change warnings: the signs that were missed (and ignored)

"In August 1974, the CIA produced a study on “climatological research as it pertains to intelligence problems”. The diagnosis was dramatic. It warned of the emergence of a new era of weird weather, leading to political unrest and mass migration (which, in turn, would cause more unrest)." #cchistory

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2021/jul/05/sixty-years-of-climate-change-warnings-the-signs-that-were-missed-and-ignored

Sixty years of climate change warnings: the signs that were missed (and ignored)

The long read: The effects of ‘weird weather’ were already being felt in the 1960s, but scientists linking fossil fuels with climate change were dismissed as prophets of doom

The Guardian

Assessing #ExxonMobil’s climate change #Communications

"By the late 1970s, global warming was no longer speculative. The issue was not were we going to have a problem, the issue was simply how soon and how fast and how bad was it going to be. Not if." #cchistory

https://www.europarl.europa.eu/cmsdata/162144/Presentation%20Geoffrey%20Supran.pdf

Frank Gresslin Apr 30, 2023

The #LieBrary: Big Oil & Gas knew since the 1960s that their products would have disastrous impacts worldwide.

"Evidence shows that Big Oil & Gas knew as early as the 1960s that their products would lead to climate change, and that it could have disastrous impacts worldwide." #cchistory

https://climateintegrity.org/lie-brary

Lie-brary

Frank Gresslin Apr 30, 2023

SEC and “Climate-Related Disclosures” – Oil companies knew their “#Scope3” liability decades ago

"Decades before the term “Scope 3” downstream emissions became a term of art, we have a “confidential” Shell Oil document from 1988, wherein we find this shocking line : “However, by the time the global warming becomes detectable it could be too late to take effective countermeasures to reduce the effects or even to stabilize the situation.”" #cchistory

https://climateinvestigations.org/sec-and-climate-related-disclosures-oil-companies-knew-their-scope-3-liability-decades-ago/

SEC and “Climate-Related Disclosures” – Oil companies knew their “Scope 3” liability decades ago – Climate Investigations Center

Frank Gresslin Apr 30, 2023

Analysis: Which #Countries are historically responsible for climate change?

"In total, humans have pumped around 2,500bn tonnes of CO2 (GtCO2) into the atmosphere since 1850, leaving less than 500GtCO2 of remaining carbon budget to stay below 1.5C of warming." #cchistory

https://www.carbonbrief.org/analysis-which-countries-are-historically-responsible-for-climate-change/

Analysis: Which countries are historically responsible for climate change? - Carbon Brief

Carbon Brief looks at national responsibility for historical emissions of CO2 from 1850-2021, updating analysis published in 2019.

Carbon Brief

Frank Gresslin Apr 30, 2023

Climate scientists: concept of #NetZero is a dangerous trap

"Most attention in the mid-1990s was focused on increasing energy efficiency and energy switching (such as the UK’s move from coal to gas) and the potential of nuclear energy. The hope was that such innovations would quickly reverse increases in fossil fuel emissions." #cchistory

https://theconversation.com/climate-scientists-concept-of-net-zero-is-a-dangerous-trap-157368

Climate scientists: concept of net zero is a dangerous trap

Prominent academics, including a former IPCC chair, round on governments worldwide for using the concept of net zero emissions to ‘greenwash’ their lack of commitment to solving global warming.

The Conversation

Frank Gresslin Apr 30, 2023

1.5°C: where the #Target came from – and why we’re losing sight of its importance

"The idea that a “safe” level of warming could be achieved was subjective: current levels were already unsafe for those on the sharpest end of climate change." #cchistory

https://theconversation.com/1-5-c-where-the-target-came-from-and-why-were-losing-sight-of-its-importance-195745

1.5°C: where the target came from – and why we're losing sight of its importance

There is no safe limit to global warming – there is only what people deem to be acceptable damage.

The Conversation

Frank Gresslin May 14, 2023

Climate change first ‘went viral’ exactly 70 years ago

"But it was in early May, 1953, at a meeting of the American Geophysical Union, that Canadian physicist Gilbert Plass – who had been corresponding with Callendar – told the gathered scientists that trouble was afoot." #cchistory

https://theconversation.com/climate-change-first-went-viral-exactly-70-years-ago-205508

Climate change first ‘went viral’ exactly 70 years ago

In May 1953, scientist Gilbert Plass made some extraordinarily prescient comments.

The Conversation