Quakers have a long-standing commitment to living sustainably, and many see themselves as ‘climate warriors’. There is also a long tradition that Quaker actions should be based on, and tested by, lived experience. But most people, Quakers or otherwise, don’t have any direct means of experiencing the causes of climate change.
In this talk John Wood, a member of Bakewell Quaker Meeting, hopes to provide some awareness of what is involved by telling the story of Charles Keeling, the first man accurately to measure the rising levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. The equipment he set up in 1958 at the Mauna Loa Observatory, on top of a Hawaiian volcano, has given climate scientists a continuous record of rising carbon dioxide levels.
It’s a story of remote places, luck and technical genius, and individual persistence and bloody-mindedness in the face of bureaucratic obstacles. It promises to be a fascinating evening!