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Roger Revelle, is a pioneering researcher in the study of the human influence on the atmosphere, carbon cycle and climate https://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/05/31/roger-revelles-1980-discussion-of-co2-and-climate-risks
In 1980, then director of Scripps Institution of Oceanography, Revelle gave the talk “The Role of the Oceans in Earth’s Climate and Carbon Budget” at Lawrence Livermore National Labs. He gives a great overview of how much we knew and didn't know about climate science 1980. He explains the state of the science, the uncertainties, and the questions needed to be answered.
His conclusion and discussion for how to deal with the carbon dioxide problem sound eerily similar to pronouncements made today:
The dilemma is compounded, however, and this I can’t emphasize too strongly, by the fact that decisive action must be taken in the next two or three decades if profound climatic changes 50 to 70 years into future are to be avoided. And the reason for this is obvious when you think about it, it takes about 50 years for a new energy source to penetrate the worldwide market.
If we are going to make a transition, for example, from fossil fuels to nuclear energy or to solar energy or to wind energy, if you think about that as a major source of energy during the next 50 years from now, you better start right now. Certainly, we need a 30 year leap time for any major change in the sources and uses of energy.
Let me conclude, by pointing out the carbon dioxide problem has begun to invade public consciousness at a critical time, when the worldwide industrial civilization is beginning to be shaken to its foundations by the disappearance of inexpensive sources of energy.
This is a time when critical choices must be made about future sources and uses of energy and the realization that all potential energy sources, quite apart from the carbon dioxide problem, have serious social, economic and environmental liabilities.
Government and industry must decide w..
