climate education
climate reports
fourth National climate assessment - volume II
global warming of 1.5 degrees celsius
the national security implications of climate change
climate change 2014 synthesis report
climate news & web resources
nasa global climate change: vital signs of the planet
U.S. national oceanic & atmospheric administration
u.s. environmental protection agency
University of california San diego: scripps co2 program
inside climate news
harvard center for climate, health, & the global environment: c-Change
global organizations
climate reality project
climate reality project
climate reality project
Focuses on developing leaders to inform the public on climate change.
citizens' climate lobby
climate reality project
climate reality project
Committed to building non-partisan political will for climate policy.
350.org
climate reality project
350.org
Works to mobilize the public around climate action using protests & rallies.
U.S. organizations
earth guardians
students for carbon dividends
earth guardians
A youth-lead movement to protect the planet for future generations.
sierra club
students for carbon dividends
earth guardians
Works to protect the planet and climate through many strategies.
students for carbon dividends
students for carbon dividends
students for carbon dividends
Coalition of students who support putting a price on carbon pollution.
BOOKS ON CLIMATE CHANGE & ENERGY
climate fast facts
rising temperatures
- 19 of the 20 warmest years on record all occurred since 2001 (ref).
- 9 of the 10 warmest years on record have occurred since 2005 (ref).
- 2016 ranks as the warmest on record (ref).
- 2019 was the second warmest year on record (ref).
- Earth’s global average surface temperature was 1.71°F (0.95°C) above the 20th-century average in 2019 (ref).
carbon dioxide
- Global CO2 levels are currently (Jan, 2020) about 413 ppm (ref).
- Global CO2 has increased by ~50% above the pre-industrial level of 280 ppm (ref).
- The last time global CO2 was this high was about 3 million years ago (ref).
Snow & Ice
- Antarctica has been losing 149 billion metric tons of ice per year since 2002. Greenland has been losing 279 billion tonnes/year (ref).
- Arctic sea ice reaches a minimum each September. September Arctic sea ice is declining by 12.9% per decade, relative to the 1981 to 2010 average. 2012 marked the lowest extent in satellite record (ref).
sea level rise
- Global mean sea level has risen about 8–9 inches (21–24 cm) since 1880, with about a third of that coming in just the last 25 years (ref).
- Global sea levels rose 0.14 inches (3.6 mm) per year from 2006–2015, which was 2.5 times the rate through most of the 20th century (ref).
- Climate change is the greatest threat to coral reef ecosystems (ref).
- In the U.S., nearly 40% of the population lives in relatively high population-density coastal areas vulnerable to sea level rise (ref).
- 8 of the world’s 10 largest cities are near a coast (ref).
Economic damage
- From 2017-2019, the U.S. experienced an average of 15 billion-dollar natural disasters per year, well above the 1980-2019 average (ref).
- Under a higher [warming] scenario, almost two billion labor hours are projected to be lost annually by 2090 from the impacts of temperature extremes, costing an estimated $160 billion in lost wages (ref).
- Yields of major U.S. crops (such as corn, soybeans, wheat, rice, sorghum, and cotton) are expected to decline over this century as a consequence of increases in temperatures and changes in water availability, disease, and pest outbreaks (ref).
Health & mortality
- The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that by between 2030 and 2050, climate change will cause approximately 250,000 additional deaths per year (ref).
- Among future excess death attributable to climate change, WHO estimates there will be 38,000 due to heat exposure in elderly people, 48,000 due to diarrhoea, 60,000 due to malaria, and 95,000 due to childhood undernutrition (ref).
- The European heat wave of 2003 resulted in over 70,000 excess deaths (ref).
adaptation
- Over half of damages to coastal property are estimated to be avoidable through well-timed adaptation measures (ref).
- While mitigation and adaption efforts have expanded substantially in the last four years, they do not yet approach the scale considered necessary to avoid substantial damages to the U.S. economy, environment, and human health (ref).