Keeling Curve
conceptMedia & Managed Opposition
A global temperature record that looks like pure science was started as a side project, paid for by a foundation with its own interests.
Who they are
Roger Revelle and the International Geophysical Year, with money from the Rockefeller Foundation.
What they do
The Keeling Curve is the continuous measurement of atmospheric CO₂ that became the basis for the climate narrative.
How it works
A 1956 paper called for measuring carbon dioxide during the International Geophysical Year. The Rockefeller Foundation funded the research. The International Geophysical Year hosted the first CO₂ measurements as a low-priority side project. The measurements continued and became known as the Keeling Curve, showing a steady rise in atmospheric CO₂. In 1961, Keeling produced data showing that carbon dioxide levels were rising steadily.
Why it matters
It shows how a small, funded side project became the foundation for a global climate narrative, with the funder's role often left out of the story.
The engine's record — word for word
The corpus records: "He then went on to pen the 1956 paper 4 , caling for the measurement of carbon dioxide during the International Geophysical Year , which as we saw then led to the Keeling curve and the fearmongering paper, used to kick LBJ into gear!" It is presented publicly as: "The Keeling Curve — the continuous measurement of atmospheric CO₂ that launched the entire climate narrative — was established in 1957 through Roger Revelle, on Rockefeller Foundation funding." Documents named in the corpus: 1956 paper; International Geophysical Year. Cross-sourced to council.science, keelingcurve.ucsd.edu — documents cited by the corpus and retrieved independently of it.
Follow the trail
documents
Rockefeller Foundation — $4.50B Global Health / Agricultural / Economic Policy Apexfunding line [The Keeling Curve, 1957] — does not establish: Does not establish Rockefeller Foundation controlled the scientific findings or directed the resear
documents
International Geophysical YearIGY hosted the first CO2 measurements as a low-priority side project — does not establish: Does not establish any command or funding relationship between IGY an
documents
Roger Revelle1956 paper calling for CO2 measurement during IGY [https://geosci.uchicago.edu/~archer/warming_papers/revelle.1957.CO2_buffer.pdf, 1956] — does not establish: D
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