Does climate change overwhelm you? Do you get confused by the science, and depressed about the implications? I know I do, sometimes. The sheer magnitude of the issues at hand, and the possible implications for the very near future can be scary. Taking action to reduce consumption in our daily lives can help us to deal with some of our eco-anxiety, but each of us still holds a responsibility to educate ourselves on the bigger picture.
You don’t have to be a climatologist to become a passionate advocate for our planet. Heck… I have a history degree! Science is NOT my thing.
But I live on this planet, therefore it is my responsibility to fight for it.
Significant players like Greta Thunberg aren’t usually climatologists either. We’re all just people who have taken the climate experts’ word for it and are working towards adapting to our new world.
The greatest activists on our planet today are regular people who have sought out the information necessary to hold a generalized conversation about our changing world, and have committed themselves to hold that conversation as often as they possibly can. We are in an all-hands-on-deck moment in human history, and you hold the power to hold important conversations, no matter where you live.
I’ve compiled a few links to articles from and about the most recent IPCC Reports. I hope they can serve as a springboard for y’all to continue learning about just how important it is for each of us to make climate change mitigation a part of our daily lives.
**This post was originally published in November of 2021, and updated in November 2022**
Articles From the NRDC:
IPCC: We’ve Already Warmed the Planet to Catastrophic Effect, but the Level of That Catastrophe Is Up to Us
This article from August 2021 hits all the important highlights from the IPCC reports that were released that summer. I send this link all over the place in my direct messages because it explains the report in simple terms, and has so many excellent links. Everything written in this article is better than something I could write personally, so it’s my go-to for a quick conversation on climate change.
IPCC: We Cannot Look Away — Climate Risks are Cascading
Effectively an update to the previous NRDC article in response to the release of more IPCC reports.
Reports directly From the IPCC:
IPCC 6th Assessment Report
Although it can be overwhelming, I encourage everyone to familiarize themselves with the IPCC website. There’s an abundance of information on there, and the best to become familiar with the basics of climate science is to immerse yourself in the work of the experts. Do I understand everything on there? No way. But do I learn a little bit every time I visit the site? Yep!
IPCC 6th Assessment Report: Working Group II
The second part of the IPCC 6th Assessment that was finalized in February of 2022.
From Climatechange.gov
This is a wonderful resource to find all sorts of climate related maps, links, and educational materials. You could click around in here until the end of time if you really wanted to.
Don’t forget to check out our suburban activism book recommendations!