I promised that for Blog Action Day ’09, we would hear from my greyhounds on the issue of climate change. Well, my friends, they did not disappoint.
Superman said that he would really like to take advantage of some of the available tax incentives for alternative energy construction. He then mumbled something about being able to afford more squeaky toys.
Shoxy was still a little hung over from partying too hard last night. But she did agree with her brother that conserving energy can make a big difference.
Unfortunately, neither of them had any answers on how we are going to solve the problem of climate change once and for all. It is a complicated issue, and by the time I had gotten this much out of them, they were on to more important things (mind-controlling the refrigerator door and saving the world from backyard squirrels).
The truth is that my dogs are going to be gone long before we see any cataclysmic effects of climate change. In fact, they probably won’t be impacted by climate change in any measurable way.
But my mother will likely be around long enough to see the beginning. Barring unexpected tragedy, I most certainly will be. And my children, if I have them, will see the full consequences of the action – or inaction – that we take today. Climate change is not an issue where we can afford to adopt short-term policies. It is absolutely imperative that we educate ourselves and make long-term decisions based on the big picture. If we don’t get climate change right, nothing else is going to matter.
But the dogs are right – climate change is a complicated issue. And part of the problem we have is that people don’t understand it. In a way, simple information is needed to start thinking about complicated decisions. Because, believe it or not, you can start thinking about climate change and climate change policy without being a scientific or political expert.
To that end, I have compiled a list of resources – some simple, some not – to help anyone who wants to start learning and thinking about climate change. And, even better, I’ve assigned them all a difficulty level. Because no one likes being given the molecular structure of mercury when you were just trying to figure out if it was cold enough to need a coat.
1 = EASIEST 5 = HARDEST
Background Resources
(1) 10 Climate Change Terms Everyone Should Know – My glossary, helpful to understanding anything else you read about climate change.
(1) The Most Terrifying Video You’ll Ever See – The best thing on climate change I’ve ever seen. Especially good viewing for those of you who don’t believe in climate change. Not a video of polar bears on melting icebergs. However, there are smiley faces.
(2) Pew Center Global Warming Facts and Figures – Some nice scientific and statistical basics.
(3) Pew Center Climate Change 101 – This is an incredibly thorough intermediate collection of resources. Part of what makes it a 3 in my book is that the complete document is fairly long. This is not a bite-sized overview of climate change. However, they have broken it down into useful sections.
(5) Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Reports – Much of the core scientific data on everything to do with climate change.
U.S. Legislation
American Clean Energy and Security Act (H.R. 2454)
(1-3) Wikipedia on ACES – Useful shorter summary of the legislation, congressional process, and public debate. Includes tables that break down required emissions reductions.
(4) Summary – I’ll admit it. This is the one that I read.
(5) Full Text – You’re ambitious, I tell you, ambitious. Very impressed.
Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act
(1-4) A variety of Summaries - In a variety of sizes to suit your fancy.
(5) But for those brave souls interested in working their way through all 821 pages, here is the full text of the bill.
Copenhagen, December 2009
(1-3) UN Climate Change Conference Homepage (Denmark) – A great collection of event info, up to date news, and blogs.
(2) Copen-Bloggin’ – The ever informative folks over at Mother Jones provide consistently good coverage of climate change issues. I have been particularly enjoying the Copen-Bloggin’ posts as December closes in (look for “Copen-Bloggin” in front of the post title).
(2-4) UNFCC General Page – Some general info, press releases, etc.
(5) UNFCC COP15 Info Page – Current draft proposals going into COP15.
Twitter Tags
I didn’t give the Twitter hashtags a difficulty rating. You never know what you’re going to get with Twitter, but if you want to indulge in a few different discussions about climate change, this can be a good place to start.
#BAD09 – Blog Action Day ’09 official twitter hashtag. 10,000+ bloggers around the world talking about climate change today.
#aces – Relating to the American Clean Energy and Security Act tag. Still often used to discuss climate change legislation by some people (like me) who have fallen behind and don’t know about the next hashtag.
#CEJAPA – Relating to the Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act.
#climatebill – Yet another one. (The one thing that bugs me about Twitter hashtags is the lack of consolidation. With only 140 characters, you’d think we could agree to use just one.)
#climate – Any and all tweets related to climate change more generally.
And finally – next week, on October 24th, is the International Day of Climate Action. This doesn’t have a difficulty level. Anyone can participate and everyone needs to. Because climate change really matters. To all of us. So please go to the website, sign up, and get involved. It’s just one day, but one day can make a big difference.
