About
- Climate Change“Climate change” is the now commonly used term, having replaced “global warming,” for the rapid rise in the average temperature of the Earth's surface, including air and ocean, for the past century or more. The increase is widely attributed to the phenomenon known as “the greenhouse effect,” whereby the atmospheric buildup of excess concentrations of carbon dioxide, methane, chlorofluorocarbons, and nitrous oxide—known as greenhouse gases (GHGs)—prevents infrared energy from escaping and traps heat at the earth's surface. Although there remains a minority of staunch skeptics, climate change is almost universally regarded as a fact in the scientific community and generally linked to human activity, in particular the burning of fossil fuels. In the context of the culture wars, the debate over climate change has centered on the extent of the problem and whether or not a proactive federal response, such as strict but costly regulations and programs that subsidize clean-energy technologies over carbon-based ones, is imminently needed.
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Credo Reference is an easy-to-use tool for starting research. Gather background information on your topic from hundreds of full-text encyclopedias, dictionaries, thesauri, quotations, and subject-specific titles, as well as 500,000+ images and audio files and over 1,000 videos.
Perspectives
Atlas of Climate Change
This highly acclaimed atlas distills the vast science of climate change, providing a reliable and insightful guide to this rapidly growing field. Climate change has climbed even higher up the global agenda. This new edition reflects the latest developments in research and the impact of climate change, and in current efforts to mitigate and adapt to changes in the worlds weather.
Climate Changed
What are the causes and consequences of climate change? When the scale is so big, can an individual make any difference? Documentary, diary, and masterwork graphic novel, this up-to-date look at our planet and how we live on it explains what global warming is all about. With the most complicated concepts made clear in a feat of investigative journalism by artist Philippe Squarzoni, Climate Changed weaves together scientific research, extensive interviews with experts, and a call for action. Weighing the potential of some solutions and the false promises of others, this groundbreaking work provides a realistic, balanced view of the magnitude of the crisis that An Inconvenient Truth only touched on. Climate Changed is printed on FSC-certified paper from responsibly-managed, environmentally-sound sources.
Understanding Climate Change
There is now unequivocal evidence for an anthropogenic forcing of climate change. Today our climate system is evolving principally, though not exclusively, as a result of human activities. Changes in the climate system on the global scale will inevitably have consequences that are regionally specific and provide opportunities for research into the impact of these changes. Understanding Climate Change focuses on the Midwestern United States--a region that contains approximately one-fifth of the nation's population, plays a critical role in national agricultural productivity, and experiences a high frequency of extreme events. Employing observational data and model simulations, the research presented here provides detailed assessments of climate change, variability, and predictability over the past 100 years with predictions for the coming century.
Losing Earth
By 1979, we knew nearly everything we understand today about climate change--including how to stop it. Over the next decade, a handful of scientists, politicians, and strategists, led by two unlikely heroes, risked their careers in a desperate, escalating campaign to convince the world to act before it was too late.Losing Earth is their story, and ours. The New York Times Magazinedevoted an entire issue to Nathaniel Rich's groundbreaking chronicle of that decade, which became an instant journalistic phenomenon--the subject of news coverage, editorials, and conversations all over the world. In its emphasis on the lives of the people who grappled with the great existential threat of our age, it made vivid the moral dimensions of our shared plight. Now expanded into book form,Losing Earth tells the human story of climate change in even richer, more intimate terms. It reveals, in previously unreported detail, the birth of climate denialism and the genesis of the fossil fuel industry's coordinated effort to thwart climate policy through misinformation propaganda and political influence. The book carries the story into the present day, wrestling with the long shadow of our past failures and asking crucial questions about how we make sense of our past, our future, and ourselves. Like John Hersey'sHiroshima and Jonathan Schell'sThe Fate of the Earth,Losing Earth is the rarest of achievements: a riveting work of dramatic history that articulates a moral framework for understanding how we got here, and how we must go forward.
Why We Disagree about Climate Change
Climate change is not 'a problem' waiting for 'a solution'. It is an environmental, cultural and political phenomenon which is re-shaping the way we think about ourselves, our societies and humanity's place on Earth. Drawing upon twenty-five years of professional work as an international climate change scientist and public commentator, Mike Hulme provides a unique insider's account of the emergence of this phenomenon and the diverse ways in which it is understood. He uses different standpoints from science, economics, faith, psychology, communication, sociology, politics and development to explain why we disagree about climate change. In this way he shows that climate change, far from being simply an 'issue' or a 'threat', can act as a catalyst to revise our perception of our place in the world. Why We Disagree About Climate Change is an important contribution to the ongoing debate over climate change and its likely impact on our lives.
Climate Change
There is no doubt: climate change is happening, and mankind is increasingly to blame. Climate Change: The Point of No Return provides a solid basis for the current discussion about climate change, by addressing the arguments from both sides of the debate and offering an objective evaluation of the facts. Using the latest scientific information about the causes of the global climate change, Professor Latif presents the likely scenario that will face us if we don't dedicate ourselves to a course of sustainable development, and offers concrete options for action.
The Politically Incorrect Guide to Climate Change
*Updated to include new section on the Green New Deal!* "The climate scare ends with this book." --SEAN HANNITY "This book arms every citizen with a comprehensive dossier on just how science, economics, and politics have been distorted and corrupted in the name of saving the planet." --MARK LEVIN Less freedom. More regulation. Higher costs. Make no mistake: those are the surefire consequences of the modern global warming campaign waged by political and cultural elites, who have long ago abandoned fact-based science for dramatic fearmongering in order to push increased central planning. The Politically Incorrect Guide to Climate Change gives a voice -- backed by statistics, real-life stories, and incontrovertible evidence -- to the millions of "deplorable" Americans skeptical about the multibillion dollar "climate change" complex, whose claims have time and time again been proven wrong.
Floods, Droughts, and Climate Change
No one in America would deny that the weather has changed drastically in our lifetime. We read about El Niño and La Niña, but how many of us really understand the big picture beyond our own front windows or even the headlines on the Weather Channel? Hydrologists and climatologists have long been aware of the role of regional climate in predicting floods and understanding droughts. But with our growing sense of a variable climate, it is important to reassess these natural disasters not as isolated events but as related phenomena. This book shows that floods and droughts don't happen by accident but are the products of patterns of wind, temperature, and precipitation that produce meteorologic extremes. It introduces the mechanics of global weather, puts these processes into the longer-term framework of climate, and then explores the evolution of climatic patterns through time to show that floods and droughts, once considered isolated "acts of God," are often related events driven by the same forces that shape the entire atmosphere. Michael Collier and Robert Webb offer a fresh, insightful look at what we know about floods, droughts, and climate variability—and their impact on people—in an easy-to-read text, with dramatic photos, that assumes no previous understanding of climate processes. They emphasize natural, long-term mechanisms of climate change, explaining how floods and droughts relate to climate variability over years and decades. They also show the human side of some of the most destructive weather disasters in history.
Climate Change in the 21st Century
Public and media interest in the climate change issue has increased exponentially in recent years. Climate change, or "global warming," is a complex problem with far-reaching social and economic impacts, yet few sources present the whole picture.Climate Change in the Twenty-first Centurybrings together all the major aspects of global warming science and illustrates how each field of research contributes to our collective understanding of the environmental and social crisis on global and local scales. It explains and clarifies fundamental ideas behind different ways of approaching the study of climate change, from the underpinnings of climate models and impact models to the application of dialogue processes and integrated assessment methods. It also covers the historical aspects of climate research and considers adaptation and mitigation strategies, as well as links with sustainable development. In language accessible to a broad audience,Climate Change in the Twenty-first Centuryprovides a comprehensive introduction to the world's biggest interdisciplinary challenge.
Warmest Years on Record
Thule Tuvalu-Investigating Climate Change
- Kanopy This link opens in a new window
Two places at the edge of our planet are making headlines due to climate change: Thule, Greenland, because of record ice melts there; and Tuvalu, because this remote Pacific Island nation is one of the first countries on the verge of sinking as a result of rising sea levels.
Whereas for us the warming of the planet occurs almost solely in the media, it is changing the entire existence for the inhabitants of the Thule and Tuvalu. The Film portrays how they are forced to abandon their traditional way of life as they move towards an unknown future.
Sea Surface Temperature
- Sea Surface TemperatureThis visualization shows sea surface temperature (SST) data from January 2016 through March 2020. Ocean temperatures are displayed between 0 degrees Celsius (C) and 32 degrees C.
Sea surface temperature (water temperature at the sea's surface, where the ocean is in direct contact with the atmosphere) plays a large role in climate and weather. For example, every 3 to 7 years, a swath of the Pacific Ocean along the equator warms by 2 to 3 degrees Celsius (3.6 to 5.4 degrees Fahrenheit). This warming is a hallmark of the climate pattern El Niño, which changes rainfall patterns around the globe, causing heavy rainfall in the southern United States and severe drought in Australia, Indonesia and southern Asia.
History of Global Temperature since 1880
Climate Change Natural?
- Films on Demand This link opens in a new window
At the start of the decade, Earth was warming faster than anticipated. The IPCC found that global warming over the last 250 years is likely from human activities. The extra carbon dioxide from human activities is making oceans more acidic.
Online Resources
- Climate.gov-Climate ChangeGiven the size and tremendous heat capacity of the global oceans, it takes a massive amount of heat energy to raise Earth’s average yearly surface temperature even a small amount. The 2-degree increase in global average surface temperature that has occurred since the pre-industrial era (1880-1900) might seem small, but it means a significant increase in accumulated heat. That extra heat is driving regional and seasonal temperature extremes, reducing snow cover and sea ice, intensifying heavy rainfall, and changing habitat ranges for plants and animals—expanding some and shrinking others.
- Environmental Protection Agency-Climate Change1234
EPA's climate change website is back, with more content to come. Please return as we add new information and features. Learn more about the objectives of the EPA Climate Change website.
Understanding and addressing climate change is critical to EPA's mission of protecting human health and the environment. EPA tracks and reports greenhouse gas emissions, leverages sound science, and works to reduce emissions to combat climate change. - Global Change-Climate ChangeEarth’s climate is now changing faster than at any point in the history of modern civilization, primarily as a result of human activities. Global climate change has already resulted in a wide range of impacts across every region of the country and many sectors of the economy that are expected to grow in the coming decades.
- NASA-Climate ChangeNASA’s Global Climate Change website hosts an extensive collection of global warming resources for media, educators, weathercasters and public speakers. Browse by topic and by media type, including videos, social media shareables, infographics, quizzes and interactives.
- National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration-Climate Change ImpactsThough we often think about human-induced climate change as something that will happen in the future, it is an ongoing process. Ecosystems and communities in the United States and around the world are being impacted today.
Shored Up
- Kanopy This link opens in a new windowWhen Superstorm Sandy devastated the East Coast, it was a wake up call to a new reality. SHORED UP takes us to the heart of this climate change controversy, following communities in New Jersey and North Carolina where politics, economics and science collide.
Beginning 3 years before Sandy hit and following the debates over beach replenishment and other attempts to hold back the sea, SHORED UP is a convincing call for action along our coasts. As the oceans rise and storms flood our towns and cities, we have a choice to make: do we continue to develop as we have in the past, ignoring clear risks and danger? Or, do we allow science to guide our policies for the future...before it's too late?