Today is Blog Action Day 2009. This is an annual event, held every October 15, with a goal of encouraging an outpouring of simultaneous comment on an important issue calling for global action. This year, the designated subject is climate change.
Back in January, I wrote a blog post summarizing my position on climate change. Entitled Pascal’s Wager and Climate Change, the post makes the argument that even if you’re a skeptic about climate change or humanity’s role in causing it, the risks of ignoring the issue are great, and the benefits from addressing it are significant even if scientists are completely wrong about the causes. What I wrote in January still seems sound, so please go back to the original post, linked above, to review my argument and the vibrant comment thread.
In the meantime, here are a couple of my favorite climate-change related resources:
- <a href=http://greenmonk.netGreenmonk. Greenmonk is a good blog, but I also love their mission of providing advisory services to companies trying to develop climate change strategies.
- RealClimate, which bills itself as providing “Climate science from climate scientists”, and delivers.
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energyliteracy.com, a site created by my son-in-law Saul Griffith to help people understand the math and engineering concepts around energy use and climate change. It’s amazing how many people talk about the issue without understanding the basic units with which energy is measured.
Wattzon is another site that Saul created to help people quantify the energy they use. From what I can see, users way under-report their actual energy consumption, but the ideas, presentations, and posts on the site are extraordinarily informative. - Worldchanging, a site that doesn’t just cover climate change, but focuses on technologies and practices with positive global impact.
Feel free to supply additional links (pro- and con-) in the comments. And if you care about the issue (you should!), write your own Blog Action Day post.