A hundred-year-old newspaper headline warns of climate change

“Coal consumption affecting climate” – that was the title of an article published in a New Zealand newspaper over a hundred years ago, in August 1912. 

At the beginning of the 20th century, the world burned about two billion tons of coal a year. The mentioned article’s aim was to warn that the environmental effect could be much greater in a few centuries. 

More than one century later, climatologists reported that the planet has warmed by about 4 degrees Fahrenheit [1.2°C] since the late 19th century and the temperatur is still growing as more greenhouse gases (GHGs) are produced, primarily from burning fossil fuels.

The clip, which is being shared on social media, comes as the UK is considering approving a new coal mine in Cumbria. If the government gives a green-light to the project, it could be the first new deep-coal mine to be approved since the 1980s, mining cokeable coal from the bottom of the Irish Sea. Environmentalists and climate activists warn that coal mining will cause the government to lose its remaining credibility related to the climate issues.

The chairman of the Independent Climate Change Committee recently called it “completely indefensible”. The United Kingdom has set a deadline to phase out coal from October 2024. We all keep in mind that coal is one of the most carbon intensive fossil fuels and causes harmful air pollution.