Confused by the media's coverage of man-made global warming? (a.k.a. anthropogenic global warming or AGW.)
Are we warming or are we cooling? Is climate change simply a result of natural variability or is it really man-made? Is the science to be trusted?
Scientific advances have made global warming well understood. Global warming is the existential threat of our time - greater I say, than even the threat of nuclear holocaust. We have only a few years to understand the enormity of the crisis and successfully act, so that our children might avoid the worst effects in the following decades. Yet doubts linger for many and are even growing in some.
Therefore ignorance of the subject should not be excused or allowed. This post attempts to provide a short list of resources that clearly and succinctly explain global warming.
Please read what you can. Pass a link to this post on to those you suspect have questions or doubts about it - express your concerns and ask them to read too.
GLOBAL WARMING 101 - A READING LIST:
The Basic Scientific Understanding:
Basic Fossil Fuel Facts - an indispensable condensed explanation - at the end of a letter addressed to Governor Gibbons of Nevada by Jim Hansen. (The facts starts on page 5 - the letter is very good too.)
Climate Code Red: The case for a sustainability emergency - a great summary of the science up to the start of this year, giving the crisis the urgency it deserves.
Understanding and Attributing Climate Change - IPCC makes the case.
Detecting and Attributing External Influences on the Climate System: A Review of Recent Advances - Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.
Assessing key vulnerabilities and the risk from climate change - the IPCC's take on what's at stake.
The Effects of Climate Change on Agriculture, Land Resources, Water Resources, and Biodiversity, Executive Summary - U.S. Dept of Agriculture
Special Report: Climate Change - covers the crisis from many angles.
The Science Behind the Science and Why it can be trusted:
Scientists Explain How They Attribute Climate-Change Data - A Wall Street Journal article shows why the science can be trusted.
Models 'key to climate forecasts' - BBC's examination of our most powerful tool in understanding global warming.
Addressing Doubt:
Climate change: A guide for the perplexed - has great links covering many of the questions people naturally have when first confronted by the enormity of global warming.
Skeptical Science: Examining the science of global warming skepticism
MORE READING
Best Global Warming Blogs:
Climate Progress
Real Climate
Climate Feedback
Gristmill
Related Websites:
Climatic Research Unit
Hadley Center for Climate Prediction
Jim Hansen
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
National Snow and Ice Data Center
Climate Ark
NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies
United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change
Books:
With Speed and Violence: Why Scientists Fear Tipping Points in Climate Change by Fred Pearce - The best A to Z treatment I've read.
Hell and High Water: Global Warming--the Solution and the Politics--and What We Should Do by Joseph Romm
The Discovery of Global Warming by Spencer R. Weart
Censoring Science: Inside the Political Attack on Dr. James Hansen and the Surprising Truth About Global Warming by Mark Bowen
Heat: How to Stop the Planet from Burning by George Monbiot, Matthew Prescott
The Atlas of Climate Change: Mapping the World's Greatest Challenge by Kristin Dow, Thomas E. Downing
The Revenge of Gaia: Earth's Climate Crisis and the Fate of Humanity by James Lovelock, Crispin Tickell
And Now Action:
Okay, enough reading! Armed with the facts, go out and fight for our children's future - change our personal, political and public lives. A comprehensive place to start is at my blog (where this list is cross posted): Checklist Toward Zero Carbon. Download it, edit it, make it your own, and pass it on.)