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| This incomplete, partly annotated site lists useful Web sites on climate change, energy resources and economics, and related topics. I'll be adding to it and possibly reorganizing regularly. If you find a site you like, bookmark it for yourself; it may have moved (or been removed) the next time you visit. If you find a site, blog, or book that should be on here, let me know. |
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| Greenhouse Effect/Atmosphere Climate Change Introductory & General Miscellaneous The Sun & Climate Evidence & Impacts Climate Modeling Analysis of Denial & Delay Mitigation & Adaptation The Arctic California |
Energy Resources Peak Oil Energy Analysis Petroleum: Miscellaneous Oil & War Alternative Energy & Fuels Biofuels Coal Population Climate: Policy ± Economics Energy & Economics The Global Economic Decline |
Related topics Carbon & The Carbon Cycle Land Use Ecosystems Food ENSO & PDO General Science |
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| Highly recommended sites/RSS feeds RealClimate: Climatology blog, run by 10 professional climatologists, aimed at the interested public. The Oil Drum: Web site devoted to Peak Oil and other energy issues. Professionally run and written; quantitative analyses presented in comprehensible language. I read this almost every day. Chris Martenson's pages, with The Crash Course: Outstanding series of slide shows w/audio that clearly outline the imposing economic and energy crises facing the U.S. I give it the highest possible recommendation. Dr. Michael Mills' site: Two parts: (1) multimedia exploration of Peak Oil and our chances of avoiding ecological overshoot (lengthy, but very accessible); (2) the most complete resource list I've seen of resources related to Peak Oil, including URLs, papers/books, DVDs, and more (really, really useful). |
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| Books of interest Michael Mann/Lee Kump: Dire Predictions (2008): Attractive, easily digestible summary of changing climate John Houghton: Global Warming (2004): Climate change "textbook;" more complete, more challenging than Mann/Kump Fred Krupp/Miriam Horn: Earth: The Sequel (2008): Hopeful plan for "solving" global warming and energy challenges Jeffrey Sachs: Common Wealth (2008): Even-more-hopeful plan for "solving" climate, poverty, and other challenges Spencer Weart: The Discovery of Global Warming (2008, rev): Accessible history of climate research & discovery Ross Gelbspan: Boiling Point (2004): Part history, part analysis of the major players in the climate change arena Jeremy Leggett: The Carbon War (2001): A personal history of the politics of climate change up to 2000. Matthew Simmons: Twilight in the Desert (2005): Saudi Arabia, Peak Oil, and the world economy Kenneth Duffeyes: Beyond Oil (2005): subtitled The View from Hubbert's Peak Richard Heinberg: The Party's Over (2003) and Powerdown (2004): Early warnings about Peak Oil issues Michael Klare: Blood and Oil (2004): Thoughtful, documented analysis of U.S. military, energy policy, and foreign policy Edwin Black: Internal Combustion (2006): Well-documented analysis of the rise of oil use in the U.S. and the simultaneous (not coincidentally) undermining and failure of alternative energy resources—chiefly covering 1880-1940. Jeff Goodell: Big Coal (2007): Clear-eyed of the pros and (many) cons of coal as an energy source. F.A. Hayek: The Road to Serfdom (1944): Classic Austrian-school economics (free markets without government intervention) Henry Hazlitt: Economics in One Lesson (1946/1979): Readable explication of the basics of Austrian-school economics Naomi Klein: The Shock Doctrine (2007): Compelling explication of how unflinching, unprincipled "free-market" economics has shackled democracies, distorted the distribution of wealth, and contributed to the world as we know it. Recommended. David Kennedy: Freedom From Fear: The American People in Depression and War, 1929-1945 (1999): Pulitzer-prize winner worth reading in general; listed here because of its insights into the causes and responses to the Great Depression. R. Taggart Murphy: The Weight of the Yen (1997): Japanese economics, 1950s–mid-1990s; a bit technical in places, but worth reading, if only for the historical insights Nassim Nicholas Taleb: The Black Swan (2007): The impact of the highly improbable, focusing on economic/financial issues but applicable in many areas of human endeavor. Joseph Tainter: The Collapse of Complex Societies (1988): Scholarly text that reviews proposed explanations of past societal collapses; he concludes that energy resources are the chief culprit Jared Diamond: Collapse (2005): Dense but readable analysis of factors that have contributed to past societal collapses; he weights environmental factors more heavily than Tainter does. [Diamond's Guns, Germs, and Steel (2003) is worth all the praise it received, and is easier to read than Collapse—though it doesn't deal directly with climate change or energy.] Dmitry Orlov: Reinventing Collapse (2008): Chilling comparison of modern U.S. to the USSR prior to its collapse Richard Manning: Against the Grain (2004): "How agriculture has hijacked civilization" -- a must-read for ag/env folks J.F. Rischard: High Noon (2002): Provides brief synopses of and recommended approaches to solving "20 Global Problems" Jack Spigarelli: Crisis Preparedness Handbook (2002): One of many good ones on the market. |
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| Some DVDs An Inconvenient Truth A Crude Awakening The End of Suburbia The Power of Community: How Cuba Survived Peak Oil |
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Greenhouse Effect/Atmosphere Greenhouse Effect: Background (UCAR) Greenhouse Effect: General Overview (Virtualmuseum) Greenhouse Effect, CO2, Radiative Forcings, and more (RealClimate -- slightly technical, but very good) Clouds & Radiation (and climate) (NASA Earth Observatory) Animation showing global monthly mean temperatures Global climate animations (Univ of Oregon) |
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Climate Change (introductory & general) Articles, FAQs, Timeline, etc. about Climate Change (Encyclopedia of Earth) Global Warming Science (UCS) The Discovery of Global Warming (Spencer Weart) Very thorough, dozens of chapters/links U.S. EPA Climate Change site Global Climate Change Resources (AAAS) IPCC 4 Technical Reports Simple animations and explanations of Daisyworld Slightly more complex animation of Daisyworld (Same principle, though) |
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Climate Change (miscellaneous) Hansen’s “Trial of the Century” “Mock trial” of CO2 and other GHGs Civilization’s Last Chance (Bill McKibben/LA Times 11 May 08) Living in the Eemian (Stuart Staniford / TOD, 20 Feb 2006) Anaylysis of Eemian warming 125 ka, plus modern glacier behavior (RLS read this again) Climate of Change (Al Gore's NYTimes opinion piece, 9 Nov 08) |
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The Sun and Climate There Goes the Sun (Tamino/Open Mind, 12 July 2007) Examines Lockwood/Frohlich paper’s results: solar variability is not causing T rise Sunspot Index Graphics (Solar Influences Data Center) Weak increase in sunspot number in last 200 years, but not correlated well w/T rise in last 50 yr |
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Changing Climate: Evidence/Impacts Never-ending Wildfires? (Sunset, Oct 2007) Link to 7:30-min video of SA glacier retreat (feat. Lonnie Thompson) Tropical glacier retreat (RealClimate; addresses Kilimanjaro & Kaser et al 2004) Ice sheet retreat in Greenland and Antarctica (RealClimate / Pelto Oct 08) Global maps showing effects of sea-level rise Sea Level rise, past and current (NASA, Jan 2007) Water World (Tamino/Open Mind, 14 March 2008) Includes fine graph of changes in rate of SL rise since 20 ka NASA GISS update on global average T, Jan 2008 1940-1970 cooling/plateau T due to aerosols (Tamino/Open Mind, 17 Aug 2007) NHem T rise since 1970: latitude dependence (Tamino/Open Mind, 11 Jan 2008) Global Warming Devastates Coral Reefs (National Geographic, 16 May 2006) The Acid Ocean (RealClimate, 2 July 2005) Involves basic high-school chemistry Ocean Acidification (German Advisory Council on Global Change) Thorough examination of this problem |
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Climate Modeling The physics of climate modeling (NASA/Gavin Schmidt) Modeling the climate (climateprediction.net) FAQ about climate models (RealClimate) |
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Analysis of Denial & Delay Dan Gilbert: Global warming, twiddling our thumbs, and the human brain 14-minute video of conference presentation While Washington Slept (Mark Hertsgaard, Vanity Fair 5 April 06) The American Denial of Global Warming (Naomi Oreskes) 58-minute video; highly recommended How It All Ends Wandering Mind's YouTube overview, with links to many other short videos Seitz, Singer op-ed pieces (Wall Street Journal) |
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Mitigation & Adaptation What You Can Do (U.S. EPA) Pacala & Socolow’s Stabilization Wedges Where We Stand on Iron Fertilization (14 Nov 2007) Community as Solution to Peak Oil and Climate Change With extended discussions of Food, Housing, and Transportation Where the Rubber Meets the Road A “friendlier” perspective than that of a typical survivalist Population, Peak Oil, & the die-off (Chefurka) A very sane, very frightening analysis iHitch: High-tech Hitchhiking From Australia, but could be implemented anywhere Focus the Nation Upbeat site dedicated to “Accelerating the transition to a just and prosperous clean-energy future” Van Jones KQED interview (52 min) Outspoken activist outlines combined plan for addressing pollution (climate) and poverty |
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The Arctic Arctic Climate Impact Assessment Available reports: Overview (Impacts of a Warming Arctic); full-length ACIA scientific report; brief Highlights Disappearing ponds in High Arctic (2 July 07) The Big Thaw (National Geographic, June 2007) The Cryosphere Today Animations, graphs, and photographs of Arctic ice; data go back to 1979 Methane emissions from melting permafrost Hot Times in Alaska (PBS movie, hosted by Alan Alda, 2004) Science Poles (International Polar Foundation -- Arctic & Antarctic) |
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California The CalEPA Air Resource Board Links to reports, programs, etc. California Climate Change Center, biennial science reports 2006 report available; 2008 report due soon.... |
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Peak Oil UK Production History Oil Megaprojects list (Wikipedia, done by khebab et al) Our World is Finite: Implications of Resource Limitations (Gail Tverberg / TOD) Robert Hirsch: The world's energy future 24-minute video includes a brief summary of Peak Oil, difficult times in near future, A-OK in 2050 Shell CEO E-mail to Employees, 22 Jan 2008 Running Out of Fuel, But Not Out of Ideas (Ben Stein) Preparing for Peak Oil An ambitious wiki—recently started, and looking for contributors Introduction to Peak Oil (Gail Tverberg / TOD March/May 2008) Peak Oil: Whom to Believe, part 1 (Nate Hagens / TOD) Introduction to Peak Oil, originally written in March 2007 Peak Oil: Believe It Or Not (Nate Hagens / TOD) Cognitive belief biases & trouble w/accepting PO Peak Oil Media Guide (Prof. Goose / TOD) Intro to Peak Oil, plus discussion of alternative fuels (Robert Rapier, 2006) Life After the Oil Crash Intro to peak oil, with a dim view of the future Peak Oil: Beginner’s Guide (Wolf at the Door) Peak Oil: A guide to technical jargon (Wolf at the Door) America: Out of Gas (Michael Klare) Examines world stage and diminished U.S. role there The Impending Oil Export Crisis (Chris Nelder, 11 June 08) Export Land Model (Wikipedia) Export Land Model / Net Oil Exporters (westexas / TOD) See table near end of article -- slow but accelerating net export decline Guide to Acronyms in Peak Oil Discussions Oil Shock (5-part series in the Washington Post, summer 2008) Peak Oil & The Fate of Humanity Multi-part PowerPoint "book" or PDF Petroleum Shortages --> Electricity Shortages (Gail Tverberg / TOD) Oil: The Final Warning (New Scientist, 25 June 2008) Peak Oil in a Recession (Peak Watch, 10 Sept 2008) Forecasts for Oil Production by Saudi Arabia (JoulesBurn / TOD) U.S. military: energy consumption |
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Energy Analysis Net Energy Analysis (Prof. Cutler Cleveland / TOD) Includes EROI, etc. Net Energy Analysis (Prof. Cutler Cleveland / Encyclopedia of Earth) Includes EROI, etc. Why EROI Matters (Charles Hall / TOD) The Energy Return on Time (Hagens / TOD) Natural Gas EROI in North America (Friese / TOD) Well-written analysis, useful ensuing discussion....bleak news |
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Petroleum: Miscellaneous Growing Pains: Climate and Peak Oil Current petroleum prices One of many places to get these International Energy Outlook 2008 An optimistic view with no peak by 2030, from the U.S. EIA The objectivity of the International Energy Agency (IEA) (Gail Tverberg / TOD) |
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Oil and War Oil and Conflict: A Natural Mix Petrodollar Warfare (Wikipedia) |
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Alternative Energy & Fuels The Energy Challenge (Physics Today, 2002) Meeting Energy Challenges: Technology and Policy (Physics Today, 2002) Robert Hirsch: The world's energy future 24-minute video includes a brief summary of Peak Oil, difficult times in near future, A-OK in 2050 Top 100 possibilities for "Clean Energy" Qualitative ranking of energy alternatives U.S. Energy taxes (TOD / Gail Tverberg) Is the playing field level for different energy types? Nuclear power’s comeback (National Geographic, April 2006) Discussion of Liquid-Fluoride Thorium Reactors (TOD / Charles Barton) Tar Sands: Oil Junkie's Last Fix, pt. 1 (TOD / Nelder & Meyer) Tar Sands: Oil Junkie's Last Fix, pt. 2 (TOD / Nelder & Meyer) U.S. EPA’s Renewable Fuels page You can also link to gasoline, alternatives, diesel, and other sites from here. U.S. EPA: GHG impacts of various alternative fuels Library of global renewable energy resources (GENI) U.S. Wind Energy Resource Atlas Wind & Heat Pumps (TOD / Tom Konrad) The Hydrogen Economy and Peak Platinum (TPD ANZA) "The Hydrogen Economy" update (Strahan / Nov 08) PG&E’s new (14 Aug 08) solar deals (SJ Mercury News) Biofuels: The Ethanol Myth (Consumer Reports, Oct 2006) Bio-debatable: Food vs. Fuel (3 May 2008) Anti-biofuels "open letter to Obama" (TOD Jan 09) California's first "Cow Power" project (March 2008) Coal: Coal in the U.S. (Richard Heinberg / TOD, 30 May 08) Annual U.S. coal production and consumption data Hubbert’s Peak, The Coal Question, and Climate Change (Dave Rutledge, Caltech) Includes abstract and links to (1) 1-hr video and (2) slideshow The Great Coal Hole (David Strahan / New Scientist, 17 Jan 08) EPA ruling (Nov 08) toughens coal emissions (good news for the climate) (brief TIME article) The High Cost of Cheap Coal (National Geographic, March 2006) The Coal Question / Jevons (Wikipedia) Clean coal parody (1.5-min YouTube) |
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Other Resources Water Crisis (World Water Council) Lake Mead may go dry by 2021 Death of the Oceans? (Jeremy Jackson) Enhanced audio (presentation w/slides) Peak Metal? Lithium, zinc, nickel, etc. & batteries of the future Abundant lithium? |
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Population The Tragedy of the Commons and Extension of The Tragedy of the Commons (Garrett Hardin) Read this 1968 classic. The very brief Extension (1998) is also worth reading. Living on a Lifeboat (Garrett Hardin) More on the "Elephant in the Room" (population) and the tragedy of the commons. Read this, too. How do we control population growth? (Garrett Hardin, 1989) Overpopulation / Scientific avoidance (Prof. Albert Bartlett) Arithmetic, Population, and Energy (Prof. Albert Bartlett) 8-part series under title “The Most IMPORTANT Video You’ll Ever See” on YouTube Boomsday (short article in WSJ's MarketWatch) Save the Planet—Have Fewer Children Climate: Policy (± Economics) Dynamic Cities Project: Combined energy & climate challenges Cap-and-Trade Systems (UCS) The Kyoto Protocol (Wikipedia) Stern Review (HM Treasury) Energy & Economics A Steady-state Economy (Prof. Herman Daly / TOD) The Crash Course (Chris Martenson) The highest-recommended resource of the entire list. You do not have a better way to spend 3 hours. Our World is Finite: Implications of Resource Limitations (Gail Tverberg / TOD) Expected Economic Impact of an Energy Downturn (Gail Tverberg / TOD) Bleak look at Peak Oil and Financial Markets, mid-2008 (Gail Tverberg / TOD) Peak Oil in a Recession (Peak Watch, 10 Sept 2008) Why Oil Prices are So High (Paul Craig Roberts) Oil Demand Destruction & Brittle Systems (TOD / Vail) The Failure of Networked Systems: The Repercussions of Systematic Risk (TOD / Aeldric) Intriguing post and discussion about near- to medium-term outlook for U.S. and world economy & collapse The Global Economic Decline The Crash Course (Chris Martenson) The highest-recommended resource of the entire list. You do not have a better way to spend 3 hours. Shadow Government Statistics (John Williams) Referred to in Crash Course Ch. 16 The Numbers Racket (Kevin Phillips / Harper's May 2008) Outstanding, clear, concise explanation of bogus reported values of unemployment, CDI, GDP, etc. Real State of the U.S. Economy (William Engdahl) Plumbing the Depths of Depravity (Financial Sense Univ / Kirby) Very harsh but cogent indictment of Bernanke & Paulsen. Belongs in mainstream media....fat chance. Poof! There go Americans' dreams (Markman/MSN) Paddy Hirsch (NPR's Marketplace) videos: Brief, cogent, explanations of Crash 2008 (worth watching): Naked Short Selling / Uncorking CDOs / Credit Default Swaps / The Credit Crisis as Antarctic Expedition / Over-the-Counter trouble / Margin Calls The Great Consumer Crash of 2009 Covers some of the same ground as Crash Course; more opinionated, still documented Credit Crisis & Collapse of International Trade (29 Oct 08) (Bloomberg) How the Plunge Protection Team Killed the Free Market (WebofDebt / Brown) That's the PRESIDENT'S Plunge Protection Team....read this to cure trust in the "system." The U.S. Dollar Death Dance, Oct 08 (Financial Sense Univ / Willie) Lessons Learned from Bailout Month (Sept 08) (TOD / Jerome) Pithy summary, plus lots of commentary from people who don't agree with one another 9 Oct 08 Summary of Global Economic Crisis (Financial Sense / Mish) 9 Oct 08: Financial Warfare over Global Bank Power (Financial Sense / Engdahl) Hyperinflation (John Williams / ShadowStats.com) referred to by Richard in 16 Oct 08 presentation Web of Debt blog (Ellen Brown); several entries refer to the Plunge Protection Team Citizens' Guide to the Financial Condition of the U.S. Government (PDF from PGPF) Prescient guide to U.S. inflation, gold, and the coming crash (April 8, 2008) (PDF from iTulip / Jantzen) The state of U.S. unemployment, Nov 08 (iTulip / Jantzen) The Road to Serfdom (PDF from May 06 Harper's / Michael Hudson) Growth and collapse of the housing bubble, focusing on the effects on homeowners. Debt-Induced Deflation (iTulip Feb 07 / Hudson) Somewhat technical but lucid treatise that examines the U.S. economy of the 90s and 00s. The Flight to Abstraction (Greer 15 Oct 08) Green regularly ruminates insightfully about industrial society (yes, he is U.S. Grand Archdruid); here he looks at how abstract (vs. concrete) our economy and lives have become. |
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Carbon & The Carbon Cycle “The Case of the Missing Carbon” National Geographic Online Extra, Feb 2004 |
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Land Use Urban Sprawl: Phoenix (2:35-min video) Global land use -- animation (NOAA) Source of Geol 4L screenshots U.S. population and cropland by county (USGS) Each can be run as one-way animation or as one-way manual advance Historical analysis of ecological patterns & land use (Hemenway) |
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Ecosystems Millennium Assessment Reports Includes current states/trends, scenarios, policy responses |
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Food Eating Fossil Fuels Humans’ Beef with Livestock (Christian Science Monitor) Is Sustainable Agriculture and Oxymoron? (Hemenway) Michael Pollan's open letter to the next president (12 Oct 2008) plus NPR interview on the same subjects (20 Oct 2008) (40 minutes) How to redesign American food policy (health, climate, energy) |
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ENSO and PDO Simple introductory diagrams to ENSOl ENSO vs. California Rainfall Updated commentary on current ENSO A few useful animations and graphs of ENSO About the PDO (Tamino/Open Mind) |
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General Science Science for All Americans Online (Project 2061) |
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