Amazing 1958 Two-Minute TV Clip About Climate Change
Last week I came across a short color television “TV” archive from 1958 that blew me over. It’s not quite two minutes long and definitely worth the time to watch. It was broadcast as part of Bell Telephone’s Science Hour and was produced by the famous Frank Capra. The clarity with which it covers the danger of changing our atmosphere with carbon dioxide, warming the planet and raising sea level is absolutely stunning.
To put this in context, there was essentially only one phone company in the US back then, “the Bell System”, built upon the invention of Alexander Graham Bell. Bell Laboratories, its research arm, was one of the world’s premier science centers of that era. Most television was still in black and white. There were less than ten channels of television even in the largest markets. So, a weekly color TV program by Bell Labs was widely viewed. This was prime time television in 1958, exactly 60 years ago!
This particular show titled “The Unchained Goddess” was about weather, using the mythical goddess Meteora as a vehicle. Here is the relevant 1 minute and 54 second clip covering carbon dioxide, the warming atmosphere, melting polar ice and risk of sea level rise.
(This short extracted clip starts at the 50 minute point in the full 55 minute program [link].)
I came across this TV archive last week as I was researching my post last week about Dr. James Hansen’s televised testimony to the US Congress exactly 30 years ago, but did not want to distract from that story. My readers may recall that I have also pointed to the visionary speech in 1917 — a full century ago — by the legendary Alexander Graham Bell, warning us about the risk of burning fossil fuels and the “greenhouse effect”, where he encouraged the use of solar energy.
Clear messages one hundred years ago; sixty years ago; thirty years ago.
Clearly, warnings about our use of fossil fuels warming the planet, melting the ice and raising sea level have been understood and explained publicly for a LONG time. Yet even today, there is rather poor understanding throughout society about our need to tackle this issue. Regarding the science, there are two inescapable conclusions:
- Slowing the warming must be the very highest priority for our planet (the ultimate ‘all hands on deck’). This means reducing the emissions of carbon dioxide and even finding ways to remove CO2 from the atmosphere. Otherwise the rising temperatures, severe weather, increased wildfires, melting polar ice, and rising seas will threaten the health, safety and economic stability of the entire planet.
- Because the oceans have already been warmed approximately one and a half degrees Fahrenheit (~one degree Celsius) we must begin preparing now for the effects that cannot be stopped. Rising sea level is the clearest example and the one that demands our early adaptation in the form of new building codes, financing, and design of infrastructure.
But beyond those two priorities, this TV clip shows beyond any doubt that we have known the science for a very long time, and thus makes the case that a much deeper communications effort must be implemented. The fact is that it is not easy for us, as a society, to give up long-held beliefs and behaviors. The realization of “new truths” takes incredible repetition over many years to be believed and fully assimilated. That was true four centuries ago in Galileo’s time, with the concept that the Earth was not the center of the universe. It is true to today regarding the clear and present danger of continuing to add carbon dioxide to the atmosphere, which will surely melt the glaciers and raise sea level — as vividly shown in that sixty year old film clip. It is a sobering reality.
For those interested, I am working to develop the International Sea Level Institute a nonprofit completely focused on this issue. Our primary effort initially is to work with professionals in fields such as architecture and engineering. However, the insight from the above TV clip – about our reluctance to truly hear the message – is causing us to add a substantial effort to create public awareness. We are now looking for a major donor and also plan a crowd funding campaign in the Fall. In the meantime, donations would be greatly appreciated. www.sealevelinstitute.org/donate Thank you for considering.