If you’d like to learn more, here are some resources to explore:
Panels, Programs, Projects
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is the United Nations body for assessing the science related to climate change. It was created to provide policymakers with regular scientific assessments on climate change, its implications and potential future risks, as well as to put forward adaptation and mitigation options.
Currently in its Sixth Assessment cycle, the IPCC has released working group contributions on 09 August 2021 (Climate Change 2021: The Physical Science Basis), 28 February 2022 (Climate Change 2022: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability), and 04 April 2022 (Climate Change 2022: Mitigation of Climate Change). The Synthesis Report is scheduled to be released in September 2022.
The UK hosted the 26th UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26) in Glasgow on 31 October–13 November 2021. The COP26 summit brought parties together to accelerate action toward the goals of the Paris Agreement and the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.
Created to coincide with COP26 in Glasgow in November 2021, The New York Times Climate Hub brought influential leaders and thinkers together with the wider community to debate, discuss and discover climate change strategies. The sessions are available on demand, free to explore, watch and share.
“Our mission is to nurture the leaderful climate community we need for a life-giving future. When we think about the climate crisis and the transformation required to address it, it can be easy to focus on the ‘what’ (solutions, such as clean electricity) and the ‘how’ (accelerators for change, such as policy), while overlooking the critical ‘who’ — the people, communities, and networks that make transformation possible. That’s where we center our attention.”
From the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine: “A plant-based diet can have a significant positive impact on the environment and your health. Research shows that meat and dairy products are fueling the climate crisis, while plant-based diets—focused on fruits, vegetables, grains and beans—help protect the planet.”
From UT Austin, check out these resources to enhance K–12 STEM-focused water conservation learning, discover how technology is being used to impact water conservation today, and increase kids’ and teens’ impacts on water conservation.
Nearly 4% of US homes have solar panels installed and that number is projected to increase since solar energy is one of the fastest growing clean energy sources in the United States. Wonder how they'll look with your home's exterior? Check out this guide to visually appealing solar panels from Architectural Digest to help you decide which option is best suited for your home.
TED Talks
Climate change: It’s real, and our response will take two forms: slowing it down if we can . . . and learning to live with the change we can’t stop anymore. Watch these TED Talks for a primer on the issue of our times.
“Reduce, reuse, recycle.” We’re heard about that for decades—but does it work? This hour, TED speakers reimagine the well=known slogan and reconsider how we think about what we consume and throw away.
How to make radical climate action the new normal. A net-zero future is possible, but first we need to flip a mental switch to truly understand that we can stop the climate crisis if we try, says Nobel laureate Al Gore. In this inspiring and essential talk, Gore shares examples of extreme climate events, identifies the manmade systems holding us back from progress, and invites us all to join the movement for climate justice.
How do you talk to someone who doesn't believe in climate change? Not by rehashing the same data and facts we’ve been discussing for years, says climate scientist Katharine Hayhoe. In this inspiring, pragmatic talk, Hayhoe shows how the key to having a real discussion is to connect over shared values like family, community and religion—and to prompt people to realize that they already care about a changing climate.
In August 2018, a 15-year-old Swedish girl, Greta Thunberg, decided not to go to school one day in order to protest the climate crisis. Her actions sparked a global movement, inspiring millions of students to go on strike for our planet, forcing governments to listen and earning her a Nobel Peace Prize nomination.
“We’ve had 30 years of pep-talking and selling positive ideas,” says Thunberg in this 2018 talk. “And I’m sorry, but it doesn’t work. Because if it would have, the emissions would have gone down by now. They haven’t. And yes, we do need hope, of course we do. But the one thing we need more than hope is action. Once we start to act, hope is everywhere. So instead of looking for hope, look for action. Then, and only then, hope will come.”
Podcasts
A weekly podcast and public radio program, Climate One from The Commonwealth Club engages advocates, influencers and policymakers in empowering conversations that connect all aspects of the climate emergency—the individual and the systemic, the scary and the exciting—to deepen your understanding of the most critical issue of our time.
Produced by the BBC World Service, this podcast includes stories from across the world on why we find it so hard to save our own planet, and how we might change that.
Climate change adaptation expert Doug Parsons talks with scientists, activists, policymakers and journalists about the choices we face and the people who make them.
Books
Speed & Scale: A Global Action Plan for Solving Our Climate Crisis Now
John Doerr (Penguin Business, October 2021)
By turns pragmatic and inspiring, Speed & Scale intersperses Doerr’s wide-ranging analysis with firsthand accounts from Jeff Bezos, Christiana Figueres, Al Gore, Mary Barra, Bill Gates, and other intrepid policy leaders, entrepreneurs, scientists, and activists. A launchpad for those who are ready to act now, this book is geared to leaders in every walk of life. With a definitive action plan, the latest science, and a rising climate movement on our side, we can still reach net zero before it is too late. But as Doerr reminds us, there is no more time to waste.
Saving Us: A Climate Scientist’s Case for Hope and Healing in a Divided World
Katharine Hayhoe (Atria One/Signal Publishers, September 2021)
In Saving Us, Hayhoe argues that when it comes to changing hearts and minds, facts are only one part of the equation. We need to find shared values in order to connect our unique identities to collective action. This is not another doomsday narrative about a planet on fire. It is a multilayered look at science, faith, and human psychology, from an icon in her field—recently named chief scientist at The Nature Conservancy.
All We Can Save: Truth, Courage, and Solutions for the Climate Crisis
Ayana Elizabeth Johnson (editor) and Katherine K. Wilkinson (editor), (One World, July 2021)
Provocative and illuminating essays from women at the forefront of the climate movement who are harnessing truth, courage, and solutions to lead humanity forward.
Solved: How the World’s Great Cities are Fixing the Climate Crisis
David Miller (author), Bill McKibben (foreword) (Aevo UTP, October 2020)
By chronicling the stories of how cities have taken action to meet and exceed emissions targets laid out in the Paris Agreement, Miller empowers readers to fix the climate crisis. As much a "how to" guide for policymakers as a work for concerned citizens, Solved aims to inspire hope through its clear and factual analysis of what can be done—now, today—to mitigate our harmful emissions and pave the way to a 1.5-degree world.
No One is Too Small to Make a Difference
Greta Thunberg, (Penguin Books, 2019)
The groundbreaking speeches of Greta Thunberg, the young climate activist who has become the voice of a generation, including her historic address to the United Nations.
Drawdown: The most comprehensive plan ever proposed to reverse global warming
Edited by Paul Hawken, (Penguin Books, April 2017)
“Hawken has put his finger on exactly why we haven’t made more policy progress. The biggest anchor dragging behind this boat isn’t climate denial or even indifference but, I suspect, the almost unspeakably deep, defeatist conviction that no response really matters because we are already so thoroughly screwed. I’m vulnerable to that despair at times and maybe you are, too. If so, read this book—not just as an antidote to fear and despair but as foundation for understanding and supporting the kinds of change that really could be coming, and at every scale from your household to your company, your community, your county and state and national government.” —Ron Meador, MinnPost