Climate Change, Population, and Peak Oil & Some Solution Stuff
IPCC (United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change)
Has the most accurate, peer reviewed information in the world. Go to the menu for “reports for the press” and look for summary reports for various topics: mitigation, adaptation, water issues etc. The summaries for policymakers are usually 25 pages long and pretty readable – but they do use a lot of acronyms! You might also want to read Agenda 21, drafted in 1992 at the Rio conference. And the Earth Charter www.earthcharter.org
Al Gore – Inconvenient Truth – Movie and book
Historic movie that made the climate crisis real to many Americans for the first time. It focuses primarily on the problem, but has some “solutions” stuff. He has lots of web resources too!
Richard Heinberg, Reporter, College Professor, and author, now at the Post Carbon Institute. Richard sees his role as “sounding the alarm.” He has focused primarily on the effects of peak oil, and written numerous books. He is the father of the Relocalization movement. He says he is telling it how it is and is not a doomsayer, but among other things he feels that our population must decrease to pre-industrial levels, which is less than one-third of our present population. Book titles include: The Party’s Over Oil, War and the Fate of Industrial Societies; Power Down: Options and Actions for a Post-Carbon World, and many others.
Lester Brown, Plan B 3.0: Mobilizing to Save Civilization, 2007
Lester Brown, founder of WorldWatch Institute, created a new organization with the goal of promoting solutions. The first half of his book talks about the problem on a global scale..drought, famine, disease etc. with lots of personal examples of what he has already seen happening. The second half lays out his insights on how to get the US to change. His well-laid out plan focuses on tax shifting to encourage corporations and individuals to “do the right thing,” and to generate the funds needed to make huge changes to our infrastructure etc.
Debora Gordon, Steering a New Course, 1991, UCS
This is still the bible for the challenges facing the US transportation system – from personal mobility to freight. It also outlines the steps that need to be taken to address the challenges. While some things have changed in the last 25 years, it is also interesting how little some things have changed.
Ray Bradley, Climatologist, UMass Amherst
Ray is internationally renowned scientist who sits on the IPCC. He pioneered the work of analyzing CO2 content in the atmosphere by looking at ice cores at the poles. He several 30-minute tapes, one for conference attendees, a second for a church group.
Global Warming Update download PDF
Ray suggests the following web site for data http://www.paleoclimate.org
The Corporation, 2005. Award-winning film by Canadian Mark Achbar. “Provoking, witty, stylish and sweepingly informative, the film explores the nature and spectacular rise of the dominant institution of our time. Documenary with interviews and commentary. $ 26 DVD. Educational version with teacher modules $195. www.thecorporation.com