The Turnstone: talking about climate change #2
Sources you can trust (2 minute read)
The year our skies were red with rage from wildfires
Ash fell from above
Floating down and coating our garden gray
Smoke in the air and our lungs
We still placed corn seeds to earth
Miriam Mosqueda
Welcome to The Turnstone: talking about climate change, where I share resources to help you have better conversations about climate change. I send The Turnstone out every Sunday, alternating in-depth articles with “talking about vaccines” and “talking about climate change”. If you’d like The Turnstone emailed to you directly, you can sign up to my mailing list.
One of the barriers to having conversations about climate change is the feeling that we don't know enough. It can help to have some reliable go-to sources, places to go for information when something sounds a bit odd, or just to browse and learn more. The sites I've listed here are some that I've found useful in my research. I've included both a link to their main pages, and a link to an example of the type of material you can find there.
NASA
We know about NASA mostly because of space exploration, but they also do important research on the atmosphere and climate.
NASA: Climate Change and Global Warming
As an example of what you can find, here's a great (and sobering) graphic showing global temperatures from 1884 to 2021. (1 minute video)
Climate Time Machine (nasa.gov)
NASA also has an excellent site providing information about climate change that is aimed at children – although it's also great for adults who are looking for explanations that are free from jargon.
What Is Climate Change? | NASA Climate Kids
NOAA
Less well-known than NASA, the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) also has a lot of useful information on climate change.
Climate | National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (noaa.gov)
An example of the material on the NOAA site is this page on ocean temperature. We are used to hearing about atmospheric temperature, but ocean temperature is critically important too. (13 minute read)
In Hot Water: Ocean Heat and Our Warming World (arcgis.com)
United Nations
The United Nations page on climate change has some long and dense reports, as you might expect, but there are also some good basic resources. Among the most useful are their interviews with experts and activists.
ClimateChange | United Nations
Here’s a link to a short video from a young Ugandan woman talking about the links between climate change and poverty. (6 minute video)
Voices of Change: Climate change is about the people | United Nations #COP27
NIWA
For New Zealand, our National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA) is a good place to look for information on climate science.
Among their excellent resources are "climate summaries" which look back on previous months, seasons and years, and put them into context with average conditions. If, like me, you are wondering whether February was unusually cold and wet, you can find the answer here (for Wellington, it turns out, temperatures were average, but rainfall was higher than usual).
Climate Summary for February 2022 | NIWA
BBC
The BBC World Service is one of my favourite sources for news. They also have good coverage of climate change.
One of the resources I love from the BBC is their engaging podcast "The Climate Question". Each half-hour episode answers a question such as "What will happen if the earth's glaciers melt?" or "Can putting a price on nature help us care about it more?" (27 minute audio)
Poet Miriam Mosqueda
This month’s poetry exerpt comes from indigenous Mexican/ American poet and artist Miriam Mosqueda. In this video, she reads the whole poem. While it’s deeply sad, there’s also a sense of optimism and purpose, so I hope it lifts you in a week where hope has been in short supply. (2 minute video)
Poet Miriam Mosqueda Performs “Still”
Let me know what you think in the comment box below. And if you know someone who might find this article interesting, please share it with them.
Thank you for the poem. Beautiful
Amazing poem and excellent resources. Thank you.