You already know you want to fight climate change, and came looking for solutions. But if you need background on the science and economic-effects, these sources are solid:
Required reading 101:
- Excellent animations by Climate Lab Book: Open Climate Science founder Ed Hawkins, a climate scientist at the University of Reading in the UK
- The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), most recent reports
- NASA’s climate change website
- NOAA’s climate change website
- EPA’s climate change website
- World Business Council for Sustainable Development, over 200 elite corporations with $8.5 trillion USD per year sales
- The World Bank, including research papers on climate economic effects and solutions
- Skeptical Science, a website founded by climate scientists, devoted to debunking common misconceptions and outright disinformation spread by Big Oil and Big Coal.
- A calendar of major 2017 climate conferences, reports and climate related political events worldwide.
An excellent source of 100 global warming solutions, ranked in order of effectiveness, is the new study published in April 2017 in book form by Project Drawdown.
Also, the Union of Concerned Scientists has an extensive and excellent collection of original reports and analysis on a variety of climate change topics.
Please note: With a new Federal government hostile to or openly denying climate science, as time goes on the EPA, NASA and NOAA websites may become tainted. At the time this article was updated 3/30/2017 the sites still appear solid…
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Great climate-news aggregators as well as climate investigative reporting:The Daily Climate
- Yale Climate Connections
- Climate Central
- Inside Climate News
- Science Daily, a one-stop source for newly-released scientific research papers and studies
- Scientific American
- The Daily Climate
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As “Whole Earth Discipline” author Stewart Brand points out, energy efficiency is usually the highest payoff greenhouse gas-fighting activity (at least in the short run). Therefore, efficiency is a theme appearing over and over in climate-solutions literature. Here are some good resources for energy and water efficiency:
“Energy Efficiency, Building a Clean, Secure Economy,” by James L. Sweeney, Director of the Precourt Energy Efficiency Center at Stanford University, 2016. In it Professor Sweeney points out that, historically, American wins from energy efficiency have been roughly five times more effective than substitution of other technologies.
“Our new analysis finds energy efficiency is the third-largest resource in the US electric power sector,” by Maggie Molina, utilities, state and local policy director, ACEEE, 8/19/2016.
A list of links to 36 articles, think tanks and organizations in the energy efficiency space, by ACEEE.
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In a hurry or like videos and diagrams more than text? Here’s our collection of short, punchy videos and visuals.
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How does one get started saving the planet? Start by deeply knowing your own sources of personal power: 1) To save the planet, Change Yourself First; 2) To save the planet, Invest Your Working Life; 3) To save the planet, Use Your Voice and take advocacy seriously! Never miss a chance to vote, and never stop influencing your government and businesses locally, at the state level, and at the national level.
And in all cases and at all times, cast aside the learned-helplessness that infects so much of modern life…
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Global Warming, You and I 