“Good deeds” (not by me) and remembering/remembrance

As most (both?) of you who follow this site probably know, I do a climate histories site called “All Our Yesterdays.”

It’s one of those “on this day x years ago x happened.” I have learned a lot doing it – both about the histories of climate (you’d hope, eh?) but also some rudimentary data management skills etc. The project wouldn’t be continuing if it weren’t for my great Canadian friend whom I will never meet in person, Sam.

Anyway, I did a post that “took off” last week. The research had been done online but also on a trip to the British Library. It concerns a commencement address in August 1965 where Carl Borgmann told students at University of Tennessee about … yes, carbon dioxide build-up.

Somebody shared it on a reddit thread, and then somebody who read that, a long-term Wikipedia editor, got in touch with me, having created a very good page about Borgmann (I was familiar with some of the info, having rummaged around for background, but they’d dug up lots of other useful stuff, and done an absolutely beautiful job of structuring it the way you want to see a Wikipedia entry structured.

I asked if they’d be up for an interview, and they deferred (declined?) and suggested I instead see if Borgmann’s daughter might be up for it. And, characteristically, provided web pages where her email might be found.

It was found, I sent an email with the AOY article and the Wikipedia link, asking if she would be up for an interview. She was, and you can read the whole thing here.

There was useful/fascinating extra detail about Borgmann (a maths teacher changed his life), and most of all – the point of this post – is that the daughter is able to share both the AOY post and the Wikipedia entry with her children and grandchildren. So, they get that, and Carl Borgmann gets some credit.

If only he and his ilk had been listened to.

Oh well.