[MCN] Climate change: What Americans knew in 1953, 1958

[Lance Olsen]

On February 12, 1958, the American public saw the first televised 
warning about the dangers of carbon dioxide, global warming, and sea 
level rise. That warning came from The Bell Laboratory Science 
Series, which aired its fourth TV episode, "Unchained Goddess," 
written and produced by three-time Oscar winner Frank Capra.

Capra is famous for classic films like "It's a Wonderful Life," and 
not so famous for having a degree in chemical engineering. In this 
film, Dr. Research (Dr. Frank Baxter) explains to The Writer (Richard 
Carlson) that unrestricted carbon dioxide emissions could lead to a 
world where "Tourists in glass bottom boats would be viewing the 
drowned towers of Miami":

While this appears to be the first televised warning, there was a 
warning broadcast on the radio show, "General Electric: Excursions in 
Science," about the research of physicist Gilbert Plass.

Back in May 1953, Time magazine reported on Plass's work in an 
article titled "Invisible Blanket," which ends, "for centuries to 
come, if man's industrial growth continues, the earth's climate will 
continue to grow warmer." So did Popular Mechanics:

Full text with embedded links here:
http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2016/02/12/3749275/frank-capra-1958-global-warming/
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"Up until the late 1950s, tillage (plowing) released more carbon 
dioxide into the atmosphere than all the burning of oil and coal in 
history."

" ...   not tilling the soil begins to build up the carbon content of 
the soil. You might call this 'carbon farming'."

"Obviously, these programs are currently not big money-makers for farmers."

"Energy agriculture - carbon farming" Don Hofstrand co-director AgMRC
Iowa State University
https://www.extension.iastate.edu/agdm/articles/hof/HofAug07.html


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