Already in 1965 the Lyndon B. Johnson administration was presented with a scientific report on C02 pollution.

From the mid-1960s, Americans realized that the combustion of fossil fuels released billions of tons of CO2 into the atmosphere, and they understood that this factor could actually interfere with the environment.

Jimmy Carter, the president of the United States in the mid-70s of the last century, was perhaps the first to take an interest in environmental problems, so much so that he had done install the first solar panels for the production of renewable electricity on the roof of the white house.

In a speech to his constituents at the time, he said "we must now start developing the new unconventional energy sources that we will rely on in the next century" .

This is how he commissioned Frank Press, scientific advisor to the president, to draft a memorandum on the climate and Carter received it a few days after the celebration of the 4th of July. of 1977.

Press wrote that the use of fossil fuels had increased exponentially since the beginning of the 20th century and, this, had led to the release of CO2 into the atmosphere over 12% compared to the pre-industrial period, forecasting an increase from 1.5 to 2 times over the next 60 years.

The scientist had already predicted the correlation of the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere with the increase in the earth's temperature, which would lead to catastrophic climate change, with consequences in many sectors, bringing not only cities to their knees, but also the industrial and agricultural production system.

The study had exactly hit the result, in fact, the failure to reduce CO2 emissions in the environment is generating, today, climate problems that are under the eyes of all.

But what happened after the presentation of the Press memorandum?

The study on the president's table not only described in detail what were the causes that generated such a dramatic CO2 emission into the atmosphere, but also told in detail that if in 1977 this release phenomenon had been interrupted, the C02 would not have decreased but only stabilized.

Press explained that it would take thousands of years to reduce the concentration of this poison in the air and that if, again hypothetically, the emissions froze in 1977, the temperature of the earth, for a long time would not have dropped substantially, but only stabilized.

Jimmy Carter was not a fool and, although he was one of the first politicians to take an interest in the environment, he understood what political implications could be in reducing the use of Petroleum.

On his staff, James Schlesinger, America's first secretary of energy, branded Press's study as inappropriate at the time, expressing his opinion to the president, noting that the political implications of this issue were still too uncertain to justify presidential involvement and political initiatives.

The dualism that Carter lived was centered on recognizing the need to encourage the production of renewable energy, but at the same time oil became a strategic element of national security.

Indeed, after the 1973 international oil crisis, the president understood that the United States could not depend on foreign oil, especially if the sources were in unstable territories, politically and socially, he then gave life to a policy of increasing national extractions, to make the country self-sufficient from an energy point of view.

Carter's presidency ended in 1981 with Reagan's victory in the elections and with him ended the projects to push clean energy production, as the new president , not only immediately had the solar panels removed from the White House, but invested public money to create discredit on climate change studies.

Automatic translation. We apologize for any inaccuracies. Original article in Italian.