Climate Change Teach-In - General Resources
In addition to the resources listed below, also consult Jim Mulherin's (UCSC) website and book lists (PDF, 0.1Mb) on climate change and energy crises.
Members of the Environment and Technology section have also compiled an extensive environmental sociology literature on climate change, made available here in PDF form (0.1Mb).
General Readings
- National Academies. "Understanding and Responding to Climate Change". 2008. A summary of the state of the science for general audiences. (link)
- Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. "Synthesis Report". 2007. (PDF)
- United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. "Impacts, Vulnerabilities, and Adaptation in Developing Countries". 2007. (PDF)
- United Nations Development Programme. "Fighting Climate Change: Human Solidarity in a Divided World". 2008. (link)
- Hansen, James. "How Can We Avert Dangerous Climate Change?" 2007. (PDF)
- Hansen, James. "The Threat to the Planet". New York Review of Books. 2006. (link)
- Kolbert, Elizabeth. "Field Notes from a Catastrophe". Bloomsbury Publishers. 2006. (link)
- Hertzgaard, M. "While Washington Slept". Vanity Fair. 2006. (link)
- Gore, Al. Remarks Made at NYU-Law. 2006. (link)
- McKibben, Bill. "The Coming Meltdown". New York Review of Books. 2006. (link)
- Congressional Budget Office. "The Economics of Climate Change: A Primer". 2003. (PDF)
Films to Consider
- An Inconvenient Truth
- Baked Alaska
- Boiling Point: The Global Climate Crisis
- Everything's Cool
- Heat (Frontline PBS)
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Hot Politics (Frontline PBS)
Kari Norgaard, Whitman College: Details the political issues involved in global warming; excellent interviews with top officials (gov't and scientific experts) on global warming and why the U.S. has not been involved in international treaties, etc. Available to watch online, one-hour long, but can view separate chapters.
- Oil on Ice
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Out of Balance: ExxonMobil's Impact on Climate Change
Kari Norgaard, Whitman College: This documentary includes a concise overview of the basic science of climate change (which I skipped over for my class full of Environmental Studies majors), outlines the economic history of the company from its origins as Standard Oil, and shows the strategies ExxonMobil has used to create public confusion about the issue. I recommend stopping the film at the point where one of the commentators notes that the problem is "systemic". After that quote, the filmmaker advocates boycotting Exxon and switching to biofuels for personal vehicles, recommendations that go against that important structural point. (Plus I would not want to advocate biofuels for many reasons.)
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The 11th Hour
Kari Norgaard, Whitman College: Consider showing the middle section on corporate actors and economic structure - important areas of focus conveniently missing from Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth.
- Rising Waters: Global Warming and the Fate of the Pacific Islands
Websites
- National Academies' America's Climate Choices
- Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
- Real Climate: Climate Science from Climate Scientists
- Focus the Nation
- Union of Concerned Scientists
- Union of Concerned Scientists, Climate Choices
- Climate Justice
- Journalist Ross Gelbspan's website with updated news stories on climate change from around the world
- Talks recorded from Robert Brulle's Course on Global Warming
- National Public Radio series on Global Warming
- League of Conservations Voters, Heat is On
Tips, Actions, Etc.
- Ten Things You Can Do (PDF), from An Inconvenient Truth
- Home Energy Saver, from EnergyStar