December 26, 2021
Do you know what the National Academies of Sciences is? I often ask my students this question and they almost never know. That is a shame because the NAS produces some of the best information sources for Americans interested in climate change. In case you have also missed out on this gem of a resources, let me tell you a little more…
This quote from the NAS describes its activity:
The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a private, non-profit society of distinguished scholars. …. charged with providing independent, objective advice to the nation on matters related to science and technology. Scientists are elected by their peers to membership in the NAS for outstanding contributions to research. … Approximately 500 current and deceased members of the NAS have won Nobel Prizes, and the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, founded in 1914, is today one of the premier international journals publishing the results of original research….
The National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the National Academy of Medicine (NAM, formerly the Institute of Medicine) — were founded under the NAS charter in 1964 and 1970, respectively. The three Academies work together as the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) to provide independent, objective analysis and advice to the nation and conduct other activities to solve complex problems and inform public policy decisions…. (http://www.nasonline.org/about-nas/mission/)
NASEM and NAS are great sources of information. Here are two of the specific resources they offer:
National Academies of Science: Advising the Nation on Climate Change: This is a source for planners and policy makers about decision-making concerns regarding climate change and the US.
National Academies of Science: Climate Resources at the National Academies: This is a list of the dozens of reports and other resources available from the National Academies of Sciences.
US federal agency sources of information on climate change
Quite a number of US federal agencies do some type of work on climate change or carry out research that overlaps with climate research. The biggest federal program is a collaboration of federal agencies, the US Global Change Research Program.
US Global Change Research Program– created by President Ronald Reagan and codified in 1990 by congress, this collaboration provides integration between 13 federal agencies “to assist the Nation and the world to understand, assess, predict, and respond to human-induced and natural processes of global change”. They produce materials understandable to general citizens as well as researchers.
National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA Climate): NASA is one of the biggest sources of scientific research on global climate in the world. The agency has data and a variety of resources for the public on their site.
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA): NOAA does scientific research on oceanography and atmosphere. Much of this research overlaps with the questions asked by climate scientists. Consequently, the satellite images and data from NOAA oceanic buoys are important in climate science.
Just a few of the other good sources that may be helpful to you:
Science Daily: This is a daily summary of news in the sciences that includes articles on climate change, fossil fuels and other related topics. The site itself is not about climate change, but reports on a range of scientific research findings.
Skeptical Science: this is a blog that explains some of the misinformation you might here about climate science. It is run by climate scientists and gives references. Because, however, views on climate science are so politically divided, it can be hard to know if a blog is trustworthy. From my experience, this one is.
New York Times Climate Fwd: This is a weekly collection of climate news summarized. If you do not like the NYT, skip that one. This is not primarily about science but includes scientific findings.
Inside Climate News: Founded in 2007, this is a non-profit, non-partisan news outlet entirely focused on climate change. Pulitzer prize-winning journalism and career opportunities for journalists are some of its notable attributes.
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC): The IPCC is chartered by the United Nations to produce in depth reports that summarize the state of climate change every 6-7 years and shorter intermediate reports. In 2021, the IPCC was mid-way through the release of the Sixth Assessment Report, a multivolume work released/anticipated to be released in 2021 and 2022 (below).
Three Working Groups Assessment Reports:
Working Group I (WGI – The Physical Science Basis)
Working Group II (WGII – Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability)
Working Group III (WGIII – Mitigation of Climate Change)
and three Special Reports:
The Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate.
The AR6 Synthesis Report (SYR) is the final report in the series. It synthesizes the content of all of the other reports. In the past, the IPCC reports have made sets of predictions that range in severity of effects, depending on what assumptions we make about human behavior over the next decades. This summary is designed to help policy-makers as international decisions are made about global carbon emissions. In the past, IPCC predictions have turned out to be quite conservative, not overly dramatic.
These are good places to start if you want strong , understandable sources about climate change.