G184 Dittmer Global Climate Change: Web resources
Web research for climate change
A web search might take you to some of the best sources of information on climate change, or some of the worst, so search carefully. This page includes links to recommended government websites, other reliable organizations, and Google Scholar.
Government Agency Websites
Government agencies such as NASA and the NOAA conduct substantial scientific research, much of which is freely available online. You can limit a web search to government sources by adding site:gov to a web search. For example,
Here are some recommended government agencies useful for researching climate change.
- The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration - Climate PortalAuthoritative scientific data and information, including news, climate maps and data sets.
Recommended websites
- Drawdown 2020"The World’s Leading Resource for Climate Solutions. Our mission is to help the world reach “Drawdown”— the point in the future when levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere stop climbing and start to steadily decline, thereby stopping catastrophic climate change — as quickly, safely, and equitably as possible."
- What is climate change? A really simple guideFrom the BBC - a clear introduction with graphics and video tutorials.
- Intergovernmental Panel on Climate ChangeThe United Nations' comprehensive "Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5°C" released Oct 2018. The Guardian newspaper's headline summary: "We Have Twelve Years to Limit Climate Change Catastrophe, Warns U.N."
- Fourth National Climate AssessmentVolume II: Impacts, Risks, and Adaptation in the United States. The National Climate Assessment (NCA) assesses the science of climate change and variability and its impacts across the United States, now and throughout this century.
- Climate through time onlineFrom the British Geological Survey, a timeline of climate over the past 541 million years.
- Climate Impacts Group - University of Washington"The Climate Impacts Group is widely recognized for scientific discovery, as an experienced creator of impartial & actionable science and as a catalyst for building regional climate resilience." See the Special Reports section for analysis of climate impacts in the Pacific Northwest: cig.uw.edu/resources/special-reports
- World Scientists’ Warning of a Climate Emergency11,000 scientists from around the world state "clearly and unequivocally that planet Earth is facing a climate emergency." The report presents six steps which should be taken immediately. Published in BioScience Nov. 5, 2019
Find peer reviewed research on the web
Find research articles on the web at scholar.google.com. Not all of the articles will be peer reviewed, but the quality will be much higher than from an ordinary Google search.
- Google Scholar This link opens in a new windowGoogle Scholar searches the web for scholarly articles, reports, books, and other materials. If using Google Scholar from a PCC campus, you can access full text articles. If PCC has access to an article, a "Find it @ PCC" link will appear to the right of the search result. Click “Find it @ PCC” to go to the library catalog where you will be offered a choice to view the article. From home, you will need to set your Google Scholar preferences to access PCC Library resources. See How to Search PCC Library on Google Scholar for directions on how to set your Google Scholar preferences at home.