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1966 journal report reveals coal industry knew about climate change, had warned about consequences like 'melting polar ice caps' and flooded cities

Industry experts warned more than half a century ago that Planet Earth's changing temperature would melt icecaps and result in flooding of cities like New York and London.
UPDATED FEB 17, 2020
(Source: Getty Images)
(Source: Getty Images)

For those who believe that climate change is a fresh debate the world has taken part in, here is a shocker. 

According to a recently discovered journal, it is not just the oil industry but also the coal industry that had a prior idea about a worsening change in the climate, the Huffington Post has revealed in an article recently. While “Exxon knew” remains a top revelation in the domain of climate change as investigations have revealed how giants like Exxon Mobil and Shell knew about the rising greenhouse gas emissions even as they cared little about the scientists’ efforts, the latest revelation that the coal industry also knew about it is going to add more fuel to the debate.

According to the Post, Chris Cherry, a professor at the University of Texas’ department of civil and environmental engineering, got this information from a stack of old journals a large volume. It was a 1966 copy of the industry publication Mining Congress Journal and since Cherry’s father-in-law had worked in the industry once, he thought it could be an interesting souvenir.

Activists hold signs as they participate in the Power Shift '09 rally on the West Lawn of the U.S. Capitol March 2, 2009 in Washington, DC. Youth activists called for urgent congressional actions on climate change, energy and the economy. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)

When he went through the document, he came across a write-up from James R Garvey, a former president of Bituminous Coal Research Inc. -- a research organization that dealt with coal mining and processing -- and is now defunct.

Warnings that came over half a century ago

“There is evidence that the amount of carbon dioxide in the earth’s atmosphere is increasing rapidly as a result of the combustion of fossil fuels. If the future rate of increase continues as it is at the present, it has been predicted that, because the CO2 envelope reduces radiation, the temperature of the earth’s atmosphere will increase and that vast changes in the climates of the earth will result,” Garvey wrote.

“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,” he said.  Cherry was reportedly floored by the observation made over 50 years ago and called it “pretty well described a version of what we know today as climate change”. 

In the piece immediately after Garvey’s in the journal, Peabody Coal combustion engineer James R Jones said the coal industry was “buying time” before more regulations to control the pollution came into effect. 

'A matter of urgency'

“We are in favor of cleaning up our air. Everyone can point to examples in his own community where something should be done. Our aim is to have control that does not precede the technical knowledge for compliance,” he wrote, also emphasizing “There is a matter of urgency being placed on this subject of air pollution control”.

Even though Cherry’s area of specialization is not climate change, what appealed to him is the articles’ tone which was more accepting in nature and unlike many of the fossil fuel companies today that deny that climate change is indeed a reality.

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