Global Climate Change, Science and Policy
This site was created to
support POLS 346,
Environmental Politics & Policy,
|
Scientific Resources
on the Internet ·
Scientific Organizations and Associations |
Policy Resources on
the Internet |
||
|
|
||
¨
The IPCC
(Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) issued its Fourth Assessment Report
in 2007. The main page is here, with various links. It was a co-recipient of the 2007 Nobel
Peace Prize. The site also
describes work toward the upcoming Fifth Assessment Report.
¨
The Climate Impacts Group at the
University of Washington focuses on our region (the Pacific Northwest of the
United States) and its relation to climate change.
¨
2007 UN Development Report links economic
development and climate change.
¨
The Stern
Review Report on the Economics of Climate Change. As noted on the HM Treasury website,
“(t)he Chancellor asked Sir Nick Stern to lead a major review on the economics
of climate change to understand more comprehensively the nature of the economic
challenges and how they can be met, in the UK and globally.” This is an important recent
report. Here is the index to the Stern
Review and a 4 page summary. Stern went to Yale for a debate, which
was an occasion for publication of a dissent
from William Nordhaus. It also produced a substantial review
from Martin Weitzman, which suggests perhaps Stern is “right for the wrong
reasons.”
¨
The folks at Worldchanging
want to keep track of new ideas and technologies for coping with climate and
related issues. Compare them to
the Princeton Environmental Institute Carbon
Mitigation Initiative, an essential read.
¨
OECD did a study
of the economic
impacts of GCC on European skiing.
Here is their climate
change page, which links many reports on the topic.
¨
Greenfacts
published Climate
Change and Global Warming. It is a guide for nonspecialists
to the Third
Assessment Report published by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate
Change (IPCC). They did this to
counter the disinformation tactics of the skeptic groups.
¨
For an
interesting historical note, see Climate
Change Science, a National Academy of Sciences assessment of the IPCC Third
Assessment Report. This link is to
the catalog page, with links to the full report on the left in html or pdf formats. A
direct link to an accessible html
version is here. This report
was written because the George W. Bush administration was still arguing that the
science of climate change was too uncertain. It also constituted a delaying tactic. Among the NAS findings: “The full text
of the IPCC Third Assessment Report on The Scientific Basis represents a valuable
effort by U.S. and international scientists in identifying and assessing much
of the extensive research going on in climate science. The body of the WG I
report is scientifically credible and is not unlike what would be produced by a
comparable group of only U.S. scientists working with a similar set of emission
scenarios, with perhaps some normal differences in scientific tone and
emphasis.”
¨
Climate Science Watch was
created by a US govt. official who resigned over manipulation of climate change
science.
¨
Ross Gelbspan wrote The Heat is On (Perseus Books, 1998), and maintains this website to include
the latest news. Part of the
website is a summary of
scientific findings. Many of
the subsidiary pages discuss policy issues, particularly the way industry and
government officials attempt to enter the scientific discussion on GCC.
¨
Discovery
of Global Warming site created by Spencer Weart
with support from the American Institute of Physics, the National Science Foundation and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.
¨
The American
Institute of Physics adopted a policy
statement on climate change in 2004.
¨
Evelyn Yohe, Vanishing Ice, from the National Snow and Ice
Data Center, NASA Earth Observatory.
The same organization put together the Greenland
Ice Island Alarm. And check
Earth Observatory’s cool
global maps dealing with various features of the planet.
¨
William H.
Calvin, “The
Great Climate Flip-Flop,” The Atlantic Monthly 281(1):47-64 (January 1998).
¨
Environmental Defense
published a short “History
of International Scientific Consensus.”
¨
An article in Science
(289[2000]:2287) on “Equity
and Greenhouse Gas Responsibility in Climate Change Policy.”
¨
Choose Climate has an interactive climate change model
online.
Scientific Organizations and
Associations
(Note: there is some duplication from the previous category)
· Check the Climate Impacts Group at the University of Washington.
·
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change,
with links to their Assessment Reports.
·
The
US Global Change Research Program…. not a bad place to look for latest
studies. Their enabling legislation, and their assessment reports….
·
The
Pacific Institute has a page of online Climate Change
Resources. This is the best
one-stop source I have found. It
has links to many of the other sources on this page.
·
World Meteorological Organization
and their climate
monitoring website
·
The National Academies Global Change
page has collection of studies and data on many topics, such as population,
behavior, oceans, etc.
· NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center, and their Climate Monitoring Group.
·
NASA’s Goddard Institute has data on
climate and related things.
·
NASA
also has a Global Change Master Directory
page.
·
NASA’s Earth Observatory has loads
of images. Try their Visible Earth page, and the Blue Marble page,
which includes the 'earth at night' composite picture. Their Natural Hazards page
includes satellite pictures of fires, storms, volcanoes, etc. Here is a recent page on projected
temperature changes at different levels of CO2 in the atmosphere.
·
NOAA’s
Earth Observatory has a page
of graphs on climate change.
·
Calculate
your own Carbon Footprint, which means
take a look at how you live.
·
Climate Progress is perhaps the most
visited GCC site, and is quite careful with
facts
·
See
the Princeton Carbon Mitigation
Initiative
·
The
Focus The Nation initiative
focuses on public education toward political action
International Organizations
·
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change,
with links to their Third Assessment Report
·
The
United Nations’ Framework Convention on Climate
Change.
·
The
United Nations’ World
Energy Assessment, linking sustainability & humanitarian issues
Groups Advocating
Environmental Justice
· The Center for Science and the Environment is based in India, and addresses a broad range of environmental and development issues. They have a Climate Program, which advocates equal rights to the atmosphere.
·
Ecoequity, put
together by the authors of the book Dead Heat,
argues that we can get a handle on climate change only by embracing
environmental justice.
·
Redefining Progress organizes around the
idea of sustainability. They are
the folks who brought us the ecological
footprint quiz. Here is their
program on climate
change.
·
Third World Network is broadly against
institutional globalization, and has produced several reports on climate change.
·
Environmental Justice and Climate Change
Initiative is a creation of a couple of dozen groups.
· Rising Tide, out of the Netherlands, is an international collection of groups interested in climate change.
·
Corpwatch
focuses on corporations and globalization, has a campaign on climate justice. Note this group is not the same as Corporate Watch.
·
The
Global Scenarios Group has online books about
a transition to sustainable development and climate practices.
·
The International Institute for Sustainable
Development has many resources about sustainability, and has a climate program. It runs discussion listservs
that include Climate L, “A moderated list with information on the climate
change policy process and the UNFCCC.”
Concepts
& Analytical Tools
·
C.D.
Kolstad & M. Toman, The Economics of
Climate Policy, from Resources for the Future (80 page pdf
file).
·
A
Martin Weizman paper on modeling
the economic effects of human-induced climate change, and an earlier
related paper.
·
Are
you interested in Discounting?
· A 12-page introduction of the Resources for the Future book, Discounting and Intergenerational Equity (1999), is very accessible, describes the major controversies
·
US Government
policy on discounting is laid out in this document from the Office of
Management & Budget
·
On
discount
rates applied specifically to global warming issues, from the Pew Climate
project. . A shorter
version by one of the authors, from Resources for the Future.
·
Daniel
A. Farber and Paul A. Hemmersbaugh “The Shadow of the
Future: Discount Rates, Later Generations, and the Environment.”
·
Congressional
Research Service, The
Role of Risk Analysis and Risk Management in Environmental Protection
·
Corporate Governance and
Climate Change: Making the Connection, from CERES
and IRRC. (This is a 129 page pdf file. The executive summary is here.)
· A web page about the book The Skeptical Environmentalist, with links to reviews.
·
article
by Bill McKibben, Atlantic Monthly, May 98, "A Special Moment
In History."
Government
Web Sites
·
US Climate Change Science Program,
The Bush Administration’s page for “Integrating federal research on global
change and climate change.” It
includes the President’s
Plan for reducing the “intensity” of greenhouse gas emissions. The president’s
plan is summarized here by the Council on Environmental Quality, an organ
of the White House.
· Attorney.org has some overviews of areas of environmental law, and organizations they profile.
· The Congressional Research Service published a Briefing Book on climate issues, but it does not appear to be kept up since mid-2001. This has many links to legislation, the Kyoto protocols, science, economics, etc., as summarized for members of Congress.
·
Environmental Protection Agency, whose Draft Report on the
Environment “does not attempt to address the complexities of” global
climate change. EPA has a page
on global warming, which apparently has not been updated since the Summer
of 2002.
·
NOAA’s Climate Page, packed with
links to weather data & related items.
·
“The
US Global Change Research Information
Office (GCRIO) provides access to data and information on climate
change research, adaptation/mitigation strategies and technologies, and global
change related educational resources on behalf of the US Climate Change Science Program,
including the US Global Change Research
Program (Which might be updated at this
link) (USGCRP), as authorized by Section 204 of the US Global Change Research Act of
1990.” (A quote from their web site.)
This is a good site to find links to latest studies.
·
Energy
Department
·
President
Bush’s National
Energy Policy
·
Their
Fossil Energy website
·
Their
website supporting Carbon
Sequestration
· Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center at Oak Ridge.
· International Energy Agency Coal Research, based in UK
·
OECD’s
International Energy Agency
·
World
Energy Council publications
Internet Sites for Staying Informed
·
Ross
Gelbspan wrote The Heat is On (Perseus Books, 1998), and runs this website of the same
name that keeps up on climate change news, policy ideas, and much more.
· Hadley center for climate prediction and research, from the UK’s Met Office (as in, meteorological), assembles scientific information on climate change.
·
The
Pacific Institute has a page of online
Climate Change Resources. This
is the best one-stop source I have found.
It has links to many of the other sources on this page.
· Greenfacts, out of Brussels, Belgium, disseminates peer-reviewed information on health & environment. Their report on climate change includes many charts and figures from the IPCC and other sources.
·
Climatesolutions,
out of Olympia, Washington, USA, works on education and political
organization.
· Greenhousenet, out of Portland, Oregon, USA, organizes training and speakers.
·
The
Pace School of Law keeps a “Global Warming
Central” page, with links that describe Kyoto, legislation, etc.
·
Interest Groups That Back The Skeptics
·
A
web page about the book The Skeptical Environmentalist, with
links to reviews.
·
The George C. Marshall Institute has a page
about climate change
issues. Check what the NAS
had to say about the GCMI.
·
The Cato Institute has a page on Global Warming
issues.
·
The
Cooler Heads Coalition has a Global
Warming Page, that keeps up on politics and other topics, provides tools
for skeptics.
·
And,
Ross Gelbspan has a page with news about the skeptics’
organizations.
© Professor Sid Olufs, Political Science Dept., Pacific Lutheran University, 2003-2010. All rights reserved.
Special thanks to Professor Richard Gammon, Chemistry Dept., University of Washington, for many suggestions that appear on this page. Thanks also to Tom Athanasiou & Paul Baer, for the list of internet sources in their book, Dead Heat, Seven Stories Press, 2002.