* Apple users running MacOSX 10.4 or later must install Microsoft's Silverlight software in order to view the streaming videos marked with *. Once installed, restart your browser before viewing. Silverlight 4.0 intel (14MB) | Silverlight 1.0 ppc (5MB) WATCH AND LISTEN under 10 minutes Global Warming: It's All About Carbon Robert Krulwich and Odd Todd, Wild Chronicles, NPR and PBS This 5-part cartoon series is amusing and informative. Robert Krulwich is a science correspondent for NPR and co-host of the program Radiolab; Odd Todd is the cartoonist. This page also links to NPR's Climate Connections website. (4 minutes) Trend and Variation teddytv and Christoffer Haga A clever explanation of the difference between trend and variation, climate and weather, involving a man walking a dog. (1 minute) Why Greenhouse Gases Make the Planet Warmer low-res stream | med-res stream | QuickTime movie Scott Denning, Department of Atmospheric Science, Colorado State University A stripped-down explanation of the structure of greenhouse gas molecules like CO2 and how they trap heat in our atmosphere. (7 minutes, September 2009) longer For longer, more thorough, older-but-still-accurate videos by climate scientists David Randall and Scott Denning, see our archive. Climate Change: The Basic Science is Simple Scott Denning, Colorado State University In this first third of a three-part talk (Climate Change: Simple, Serious, Solvable), Changing Climates @ Colorado State climate scientist Scott Denning lays out the very basic, long-understood reasons the planet is warming from our use of carbon-based fuels. Crystal clear, common-sense, and entertaining. (17 minutes, 2017) READ books The Thinking Person's Guide to Climate Change Robert Henson. American Meteorological Society (distributed by the University of Chicago Press), 2014, 416pp. Formerly The Rough Guide to Climate Change, of which this is essentially the 4th edition, this book is an excellent, highly readable overview, with major sections on the basics, the symptoms, the science, debates and solutions, "what you can do," and resources. A staff writer at the National Center for Atmospheric Research, NCAR, Henson is a gifted explainer of complicated subjects. He addresses common questions and confusions, offers vivid examples relevant to everyday life, includes many photographs, graphs, and other helpful illustrations, and makes clear where and why scientists are more or less confident about their data and predictions. The Long Thaw: How Humans are Changing the Next 100,000 Years of Earth's Climate David Archer. Princeton University Press, 2009, 178 pp. A lucid account of the current situation and of past and future climates. Professor of geophysical sciences at the University of Chicago and frequent contributor to RealClimate.org, Archer talks about such things as ocean acidification and carbon-cycle feedbacks, but he focuses especially on explaining how the time scales of natural climate change compare to those of the human-caused changes now underway. "Global warming," he says, "could be one of humankind's longest lasting legacies"‒lasting "longer than nuclear waste, far longer than the age of human civilization so far." articles & essays FOCUS on the Climate/Human Past What has happened in the past to Earth's climate, and how, in more recent millenia, have those changes affected human beings? See this page for sources on both paleoclimate science and some of the connections with human history that historians, geographers, climatologists, and anthropologists are exploring. Trees Could Change the Climate More than Scientists Thought Gabriel Popkin and Quanta, The Atlantic, October 2018 Though this science is a good deal older than this article suggests, here is a good explanation of how forests apparently affect weather and climate, not just the reverse. To Understand What We're Doing to the Planet, You Need to Understand this Gigantic Measurement Chris Mooney, Washington Post, July 2015 Meet the gigaton‒the unit you need for understanding the size of ice melting, sea level rising, and carbon added to the air. It is a mind-bending number, but Mooney's explanation and analogies are helpful. He quotes one major research institution, for instance: "The amount of carbon we are putting into the atmosphere each year is equal to 20 times the weight of the current world population." Five Things to Know about Carbon Dioxide Bob Henson, AtmosNews, NCAR/UCAR, May 2013 Written on the occasion of the first time CO2 concentrations were measured at 400 parts per million, this clear piece addresses the weight of this gas, how it is measured and modeled, how it disperses and persists, why US emissions have dropped, and how possible future scenarios are now being assessed. Climate Literacy Seven key concepts for climate literacy prepared by top-level scientists associated with the U.S. Global Change Research Program, Climate Change Science Program, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, American Association for the Advancement of Science, National Science Foundation, and other major agencies. websites Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Assessment Reports Primary source documents representing the work of thousands of scientists from around the world, approved by the governments of over a hundred nations, including the U.S. Non-specialists may find the summaries for policy makers and frequently asked questions documents especially useful; the full reports contain important technical information, charts, and graphs. The latest reports are from 2014. TEACH classes Open Climate Change 101 David Archer, Geophysical Sciences, University of Chicago This free, online course by a leading climate scientist offers thirteen weeks worth of lectures intended for interested people without a science background. Includes quizzes and tutorials; not-for-credit; based on Archer's textbook Global Warming: Understanding the Forecast. As of fall 2013, offered via Coursera. Climate and Climate Change Thomas Ackerman, Department of Atmospheric Science, University of Washington This quarter-long course for non-science majors focuses on "the earth climate as a coupled system including the interactions between atmosphere, ocean, cryosphere, and biosphere." resources Carbon on the Move NOAA This very simple explanation of how carbon moves around on our planet, taking different forms, is aimed at children but will work for adults who have forgotten what they learned long ago. Games and Simulations-Weather, Climate, Atmosphere A helpful collection of annotated links to (mostly free) simulations, games, and virtual labs, maintained by UCAR's Randy Russell. Other online data sources recommended by science teachers for classroom use are Cryosphere Today and Berkeley Earth. Some are for children, but most are good even for adults. CLEAN: The Climate Literacy and Energy Awareness Network This extensive website is a key resource for anyone who teaches climate science, climate change, or energy awareness to students from grade 6 through college. It offers "Digital resources . . . reviewed by educators and scientists, and annotated and aligned with standards and benchmarks"‒and a lively online community of people working to increase public climate literacy. Windows to the Universe This rich and popular website offers "documents, including images, movies, animations, and data sets, that explore the Earth and Space sciences and the historical and cultural ties between science, exploration, and the human experience"; it has excellent materials on climate and climate change. Designed in large part for teachers and students, it provides all its content in both English and Spanish and at three reading levels, elementary, middle school, and high school. Housed at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) until 2010, W2U now lives at the National Earth Science Teachers Association.