Mental Floss posted a video awhile ago about global warming -- made in 1958. The narrative back then was close to the anxiety of today: global warming is catastrophic, and it's all our fault. The film was produced by Frank Capra, which is maybe why the tone, despite being a bit roll-up-your-sleeves, is also a little optimistic: it showed a whimsical animation of tourists in glass-bottomed boats, gazing down at the submerged cities of Florida. Fun!

But that wasn't the only climate change story in the 1950s. Back when Daniel and I toured a bunch of used book stores, I found a Scientific Digest from 1954 with the cover story "Are Winters Warming?" Back then, the future was always dazzling, so if global warming was in our future well then by gum it's going to be the best global warming we can imagine!

The article gushes about how beneficial climate change will be -- not just to industry and commerce, but to plants and animals. For example, warming is a boon to the ice cream industry! Canada's farm industry will be better than ever! And now that Eskimos can raise sheep, they'll stop hunting endangered whales! OMFG.

Also, not only is climate change good, but it absolutely definitely isn't our fault. And according to a scientist at MIT, it'll probably reverse by the 1960s.

Here's the article, bless its heart. I highlighted the fun bits.