Environment & Energy

Climate change: What 10 presidents have known
By Brit McCandless Farmer
March 3, 2019 / 6:47 PM EST / CBS News

There's a White House memorandum that addresses "the carbon dioxide problem" in straightforward terms. The process, it reads, is simple. Carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has the effect of a pane of glass in a greenhouse. With all the fossil fuels man is now burning, more carbon dioxide is entering the atmosphere and raising temperatures, which in turn will raise sea levels.

"Goodbye New York," it reads. "Goodbye Washington, for that matter."

The memo isn't remarkable for its dire warning. It's noteworthy because it is dated almost 50 years ago: September 17, 1969.

Daniel Patrick Moynihan, an adviser to President Richard Nixon at the time, authored it to raise awareness of the "apocalyptic change."

…