Introduction
As on many topics, the web is a crazy cornucopia of resources on the environment. For instance, there are literally millions of sites related to climate change. For this page of links, we've selected sites by the following criteria:
- Does this source well-represent one of the main voices in the debate? If so, does the source provide reasoned argumentation for its position? By "reasoned" we do not necessarily mean "compelling" or "correct," but merely that it argues with reasons, not just assertions. We select resources that are heavier on the reasoning because that will provide us information for discussion; assertion does not lend itself as well to discussion.
- If the source does not represent one of the main voices, does it represent a unique voice that is able to help us ask questions from a different angle?
By these criteria, we've left out resources by many advocacy organizations. We are not taking any position regarding the usefulness or accuracy of resources from those organizations, but since we have limited time in this class, we need to pare down the number of sources we access. This list, however, is still incomplete and we welcome suggestions.
Policy
- Prometheus: Blog by the Center for Science and Technology Policy Research at the University of Colorado, Boulder. The head of the center, Roger Pielke Jr., provides a unique appraisal of the effectiveness and effects of current policy debates surrounding climate change.
Science
- Ask Dr. Global Change: A funny title, but this site from the U.S. Global Change Research Information Office (administered by the U.S. Climate Change Science Program) provides concise answers regarding the science of climate change, with pointers to additional resources.
- CO2Science.org: Site by the Center for the Study of Carbon Dioxide and Global Change arguing "there is no compelling reason to believe that the [observed] rise in temperature was caused by the rise in CO2."
- IPCC (2001): Climate Change 2001: IPCC Third Assessment Report. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, though imperfect, is a fair summary of the current state of understanding of climate changes and its possible effects. There are 4 reports, with the report of Working Group 1 being the summary of the scientific basis for understanding climate change.
- Phaeton's Reins: The human hand in climate change: This article by MIT atmospheric scientist Kerry Emanuel, though not perfect, is a good summary of the science of climate change and some of the political responses.
- Realclimate.org: Blog by a group of climate scientists arguing anthropogenic CO2 increases have contributed to the observed increase in global temperature.
