Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with warming and climate

Who is leading the fight against coal?

sindark — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 11:48:46 -0800

In his book Storms of My Grandchildren, James Hansen makes the case that phasing out coal is the most important thing for humanity to do, to reduce the chances of catastrophic climate change. As such, my question is this: which organizations in Canada and the US are doing the most to advance that aim, both domestically and internationally? Note: I am not interested in anyone's personal views on the nature of climate change, coal, James Hansen, or anything else. Just an answer to the narrow question.

Climate change ideology

schrodycat — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 12:57:11 -0800

Help me understand the liberal/conservative split in the US with regard to global warming. I'm puzzled as to why anthropogenic climate change became a issue that's split largely along liberal/conservative lines. The analogy in my mind is of a liberal/conservative split on whether P=NP or not. Why has this become an ideological question and not a scientific one?

Remember, kids, I'm only asking a meta-question about global warming, so play nice.

What are some good books on the history of Earth's climate?

AdamCSnider — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 08:14:51 -0800

I'm looking into global climate history. Is there a particularly good overview for this? I'm a layman interested in climate change in the Earth's history - not just within a human timeframe, but reaching back as far as the term "climate" can reasonably be applied.
I'm looking for books - although if you know documentaries or websites that deal with this I'd be glad for that info as well - including both those which give a good overview of Earth's climatic history and those which specialize in specific eras. Accessibility to someone without a Ph.D. in the field would also be a plus.

Fountain pens and climate change, two great tastes that go well together

b1tr0t — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 16:28:02 -0800

Why is Mont Blanc's height so stable? The pen company has been marking 4810 on their nibs since at least the 1930s. Just this year, it measured 4810m tall.

Do reasonable global warming arguments exist?

donmak — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 14:44:21 -0800

Do reasonable arguments for or against global warming actually exist for regular people like me to read? Or must I be stuck with the annoying rhetoric of both sides? Critics of global warming claim it is faux-science, yet I never see them give evidence of this claim.

Proponents of global warming say "look at the science" and the evidence pretty much speaks for itself.

My question: Where is the science? What is a good resource to look at this data. Most of the mainstream news and conservative news just spouts snippits and rhetoric. Where can I find some good information on the "science" behind the current global warming warnings. I've watched "An Inconvenient Truth" but I shudder when I hear Al Gore strongly suggest we'll either be underwater or dead in ten years (now down to 8 years).

Also, for that matter, is there a resource that attempts to rebut the science reasonably? Preferably without that maliciousness and sarcasm of Fox News or Rush Limbaugh?