I want to learn about climate change
April 7, 2014 6:15 PM   Subscribe

I want to learn about climate change and the challenges facing the environment today. Please recommend resources!

I don't know anything about the environment or climate change and I would like to change that. Books, documentaries, lectures, etc. are all welcome. Thanks!
posted by Hey Judas! to Science & Nature (12 answers total) 21 users marked this as a favorite
 
The IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) is an international group of scientists that study and publish a report on the most up-to-date observations and predictions about climate change. There are a ton of resources on their website.
posted by DoubleLune at 6:23 PM on April 7, 2014 [3 favorites]


Sometimes I get a good basic understanding from children's books that helps me when I turn to more advanced resources. Here's one I like:

What Are Global Warming and Climate Change?
posted by marguerite at 6:26 PM on April 7, 2014 [1 favorite]


I'm a fan of Jean-Marc Jancovici, he is really lucid, writes and talks accessibly, and is working to pass the message to politicians and businesses. Please excuse the old-school website; pick a topic from this list (fossil fuels) or this list (climate).
posted by Tobu at 6:47 PM on April 7, 2014


"Heat" by George Montbiot is succinct and is a very understandable introduction to the issues involved. Gives a very good idea of impact by economic sector along with some thoughts about what could be tried.
posted by PickeringPete at 6:49 PM on April 7, 2014 [1 favorite]


The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), publishers of the journal Science, recently started the What We Know initiative, which is a pretty good introduction to the subject of climate change.

The US National Academy of Sciences and The Royal Society of the UK recently authored Climate Change: Evidence and Causes which is available as a free download.

Going more deeply, historian of science Spencer Weart has put together an amazing website called The Discovery of Global Warming, which traces the history of thought about global warming, how it was discovered and how scientists came to realize it would become a serious problem.
posted by plastic_animals at 7:07 PM on April 7, 2014


Chris Clarke is an environmental journalist who writes extensively and clearly on climate issues among other things. The KCET Rewire blog is one place you can find his writing. His personal blog is here. He also writes at Beacon - that last is a paid subscription but I have found it worthwhile.
posted by leslies at 7:18 PM on April 7, 2014


Citizens Climate Lobby, a group advocating for a carbon tax in the U.S., has a monthly conference call to which they invite guests to speak on various issues relating to climate change. They are archived online, and they often also have YouTube links of the speakers giving talks elsewhere. (Full disclosure: I'm a member of the NY chapter.)
posted by bergeycm at 7:48 PM on April 7, 2014 [1 favorite]


Here is a parting post on oil limits (peak oil) from one of the Oil Drum contributors. Here are a few more posts, by another contributor, focused on agriculture and its relationship to energy and industrialisation.

Here is a BBC series tackling some of the resource issues we'll face by 2030, a consequence of current economics and climate change.
posted by Tobu at 7:51 PM on April 7, 2014


I want to learn this too!

coursera.org now has courses on just about everything. They've got two climate change courses that have just begun, one from U. of San Diego, and one from U. of Chicago.

(Free, massive open enrollment courses.)

Also you might like the extremely beautifully made climate change propaganda piece Home.
posted by bertran at 12:03 AM on April 8, 2014


Recommending the IPCC executive summaries.

Related to this is the book Sustainable energy - without the hot air which is related.
posted by monocultured at 12:37 AM on April 8, 2014


What We Know -- as website created and maintained by the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
posted by AwkwardPause at 5:18 AM on April 8, 2014


Earth's Future is an interdisciplinary peer reviewed journal focusing on climate change. It is open access for the rest of 2014 so you can read as much of it as you want.

American Geophysical Union has a lot of other resources available on this subject if you are interested.
posted by BobbyDigital at 7:28 AM on April 8, 2014


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