Recommended Resources

[Betsy Hubbard]

This discussion will focus on recommended resources (Web sites, articles, books, videos, etc.) about climate change. We'll start by listing a few introductory sites and guides--please add to the list by replying to this post. Thanks!

The Society of Environmental Journalists has put together an excellent guide to climate change resources, organizations and experts, including regional resources.

The SEJ guide does include some examples of outstanding coverage, although it appears that this section hasn't been updated since early 2007. If you want to look at some more recent climate change projects, there are a number that are up for SEJ awards next month, including Beth Daley's terrific examination of regional impacts for the Boston Globe.

Cristine Russell's analysis of the changing climate change beat (Columbia Journalism Review, July/August 2008) is well worth reading. It includes a list of "all the climate sites you need to know as journalists."

Bud Ward of The Yale Forum on Climate Change & The Media, suggests this new book as an excellent and accessible summary of climate change science.

If you want an overview of both the science and related policy aspects of the issue, check out the 101 series by the Pew Center on Global Climate Change. This 58-page report summarizes the series--perfect plane reading!

Finally, for a fun and light-hearted (yet informative!) look at the basic science underlying climate change, check out the this cartoon series, Global Warming: It's All About Carbon.

Other suggestions? Favorite bookmarks? Worthwhile plane reading?

[Doug Alsdorf]

Hi Everyone,

As scientists, we pay close attention to Nature and Science; two journals of great importance in the global research community. This week, Nature published a couple of articles about Obama's and McCain's ideas regarding science, and climate change in particular. Take a look at:

http://www.nature.com/news/specials/uselection2008/index.html

Doug

[Doug Alsdorf]

Hi Everyone,

Not to be outdone by Nature, the journal "Science" posted today some thoughts on the election. Here's the link, scroll to "election":

http://www.sciencemag.org/current.dtl

Doug

[Jessica R. Barnes]

Hello all,

A classic climate change read is the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's 4th Assessment Synthesis Report. It contains information on the science and potential impacts for different parts of the world.

Also, check out Fred Pearce's books before you see him speak on Sunday. Both With Speed and Violence: Why Scientists Fear Tipping Points in Climate Change and When the Rivers Run Dry: Water - the Defining Crisis of the Twenty-first Century will give an in-depth look at some of the problems society faces with these critical issues.

Some web resources of interest include:


ClimateCentral.org: Climate Central bridges the scientific community and
the public.

Pew Center Global Climate Change

EPA State Planning and Measurement Maps

Other work by conference presenters include:

L. DeWayne Cecil, Jaromy R. Green and Lonnie G. Thompson. Earth
Paleoenvironments: Records preserved in Mid- and Low-Latitude Glaciers,
2004, Kluwer Academic Publishers.

Richard D. Morgenstern. Economic Analyses at EPA: Assessing Regulatory
Impact. 1997. Resources for the Future.

W. Steffen, A. Sanderson, P. Tyson, J. Jager, P. Matson, B. Moore III,
F. Oldfield, K. Richardson, H.J. Schellnhuber, B.L. Turner II, R.J.
Wasson. Global Change and the Earth System: A Planet Under Pressure
(Global Change - the IGBP Series). 2005, Springer Science + Business
Media.

[Betsy Hubbard]

A message from Earle Holland, the senior research communications officer at Ohio State:

I want to welcome you to campus and to the McCormick Climate Change Conference. It will be an exceptional opportunity for you to focus in-depth on the issue, to more deeply examine the complex interrelationships involved, and to add to your list of resources available to better report on this global issue.

We’re here to help in any way we can. We have a wealth of resources available for your use while here, as well as afterwards. Our main website offers a constantly changing stream of stories explaining the latest research findings by Ohio State researchers. From there, you can access the search function that taps the several thousand stories we’ve written since we joined the online world. Additionally, you may be interested in our new research blog which is intended to tell more of the “back-story” and context surrounding both Ohio State research and broader research issues as well.

The research communications program has extensive experience in the fields of science, medical and environmental writing and reporting. If you’re interested, please check out our background here. Please know that we are not in the business of “pitching” stories so we won’t be badgering you with suggestions for stories to tout the university’s research. Simply put, the quality of the research underway here can stand on its own.

Personally, climate change has been a key part of my niche since reporting on Professor John Mercer’s first prediction of sea level rise as a consequence of warming in his 1978 paper in the journal Nature. And I have reported on Professor Lonnie Thompson and his team’s discoveries for more than three decades. There is a wealth of information available at Ohio State to aid in your climate change reporting. I urge you to take advantage of it.

If I or any of my staff can assist in any way during your stay on campus, please don’t hesitate to ask. Our contact information is below. Again, welcome to Ohio State.

Best regards,
Earle M. Holland, Asst. Vice President for Research Communications
[phone]/cell [phone]; [e-mail]


Staff:

Jeff Grabmeier, Director, Research Communications, (614) 292- 8457/cell [phone]; [e-mail]

Pam Frost Gorder, Asst. Director, Research Communications, [phone]/cell [phone]; [e-mail]

Emily Caldwell, Asst. Director, Research Communications, [phone]/cell [phone]; [e-mail]

Jenna McGuire, Reporter, Research Communications, [phone]; [e-mail]

[Betsy Hubbard]

FRONTLINE: HEAT

Note from Patti Gras: I know this global warming special is airing at these times on HoustonPBS, people will have to check local listings on Frontline PBS but most likely it will air the third week of October. Just a heads up.

FRONTLINE: Heat

HoustonPBS Channel 8.0/8.1
Tuesday, 10/21/2008 8-10 p.m., 8.0/8.1

HoustonPBS Channel 8.2
Wednesday, 10/22/08 12-2 am
Wednesday, 10/22/08 8-1 pm
Thursday, 10/23/08 2-4 am
Sunday, 10/26/08 1-2 am


From OSU Today: Lonnie Thompson featured in documentary on climate change and business
Ohio State glaciologist Lonnie Thompson will be featured in HEAT, a FRONTLINE documentary on climate change and business airing at 9 p.m. today (10/21) on PBS (check local listings). On the eve of a historic election, award-winning producer and correspondent Martin Smith investigates how the world's largest corporations and governments are responding to Earth's looming environmental disaster. The film will have a website (www.frontline.org/heat) including extended transcripts of some of the interviews conducted at OSU. The entire documentary can be viewed online once it has aired.

[Betsy Hubbard]

Last week, The Toledo Blade ran a series on climate change that includes a look at Greenland--and features many OSU researchers.