Resources: Climate Change

The Big Questions.

• Summary Table

The Big Questions.

1. Mr. President, isn't global warming the same as climate change?
2. How do we even know that the Earth is getting warmer right now Madame President?
3. But I thought the greenhouse effect was natural? How can it be bad if it is natural?
4. How can such a small amount of CO2 have any impact on the climate of the entire planet - that’s impossible!
5. Mr. President, I thought that the ozone hole causes global warming!
6. Mr. President - I thought scientists are not really sure yet - isn't there still a debate among the experts as to if climate change is really happening and why?
7. How long have we been studying this? What do we still not know about climate change?
8. Mr. President, climate always changes. How are the recent changes different from the past? How can we sure that humans are causing the recent warming? What about the sun and other natural causes like volcanoes?
9. But Madame President, they predicted global cooling in the 1970s! Hasn't global warming stopped for the last 15 years or so?
10. How can we predict the climate 50 or 100 years from now when we can’t even forecast the weather for next week?
11. Are our computer models of climate reliable Mr. President?
12. Mr. President, what will the climate be like in 50 or 100 years?
13. Mr. President - how big of a problem is global warming? How will this impact us?
14. Madame President, will we have more extreme weather with global warming?
15. Mr. President, surely this can’t be all bad - what are the benefits of global warming?
16. Madame President, what if this is overestimated (or even a hoax) and a much smaller problem than we think right now?
17. Mister President: if all the scientists agree...then why are we still not doing something about it?
18. But we can’t do anything unless China also does it - they are the biggest polluters today!
19. Madame President, how can we fix this global warming problem?
20. Mr. President - how much will this cost to fix and can we even afford to fix it?
21. Mister President, I have found the perfect solution and it is called geoengineering!

Articles.

• Karl and Trenberth (2003) Modern Global Climate Change
• Theissen (2011) What Do U.S. Students Know About Climate Change?
• The Economist (8 March 2014) Who pressed the pause button?

Websites and Data.

• NASA Ozone Hole Watch
• AAAS What We Know
• UN/Sigma Xi Confronting Climate Change
• US National Climate Assessment (2014)
• Climate Change at the US National Academy of Sciences
• Climate Change Science at the US EPA
• Global Climate Change at NASA
• Climate Change and the US Navy
• Climate Change US Department of Defense

Videos.

• Climate 101 (4:33 minutes)
• Katharine Hayhoe: Climate Scientist and Evangelical Christian (8:07 minutes)
• John Oliver Climate Change Debate (4:26 minutes)
• Man and Dog: Trend and Variation (1:04 minutes)
• Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) on climate change (7:13 minutes)
• Jon Stewart: Burn Noticed (10:25 minutes)
• Are Our Brains Wired to Ignore Climate Change? (4:42 minutes)
• Why People Don't Believe In Climate Science (7:33 minutes)
• Climate Science: What You Need To Know (6:19 minutes)

Movies and TV Shows.

• The Day After Tomorrow (2004)
• An Inconvenient Truth (2006)
• Fuel (2008)
• Climate Refugees (2010)
• Earth: The Operators' Manual (2011)
• Powering the Planet (2012)
• Energy Quest USA (2012)
• Climate of Doubt (2012)
• Inside the Megastorm (2012)
• Thin Ice (2013)
• Ending the Silence on Climate Change (2013)
• Years Of Living Dangerously (2014)
• Cosmos Episode 12 (2014)