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Resource of the Week — Climate Change: Information and Disinformation

Resource of the Week — Climate Change: A guide to the information and disinformation
by Shirl Kennedy, Senior Editor

Al Tompkins, Broadcast/Online Group Leader at the Poynter Institute for Media Studies (and enduring friend of ResourceShelf and DocuTicker), unearthed this valuable resource, from the Society of Environmental Journalists. Although its intended audience is journalists, this guide will be of interest to anyone seeking reliable information on what is arguably one of the hottest (no pun intended) and most controversial contemporary issues.

What we have here is basically a nicely organized collection of annotated links to (mostly) online resources, from basic science to government agencies and organizations, to research institutions, environmental groups and more. Says Tompkins — in his outstanding and highly recommended daily newsletter, Al’s Morning Meeting — “I especially appreciate the list of 50 ‘really serious scientist sources on climate (who would probably be glad to talk to a journalist).’ The list includes phone numbers and e-mails for many of the sources. What a great service for journalism.” And for anyone else doing research on this issue who would benefit from two-way communication with a vetted source.

This guide includes links to several basic resources recommended for anyone wanting a basic understanding of climate change, including:

The guide includes a section on climate change “Deniers, Dissenters, and ‘Skeptics’” with links to such sources as:

It’s fairly obviously that climate change is a sometimes confusing, multi-faceted issue in which the line between fact and opinion is often quite blurred. This guide includes a section — Some Help for Sifting Disinformation from Information — that provides pointers to a number of watchdog-type resources which attempt to provide clarity, such as:

  • RealClimate: Climate Science from Climate Scientists — “When somebody is spinning the latest climate story, RealClimate posts authoritative, research-based articles in language accessible to lay readers while the controversy or deception is still fresh in headlines.”
  • SourceWatch, a wiki from the Center for Media & Democracy — “This wiki project amounts to a nearly encyclopedic data file on the backgrounds and finances of many of the groups and spokespeople on the anti-regulatory front, with special emphasis on climate-change denialists.”
  • DeSmogBlog — “This site, while cast in blog form, includes a searchable database of climate-change denialists. It is run and funded by Canadian PR magnate Jim Hoggan….”
  • Global Warming Skeptics: A Primer — From Environmental Defense, this resource “assembles the basic facts about the disinformation campaign in a clear and quickly readable form, but also covers some new ground.”
  • Activist Cash — “ActivistCash is operated by the anti-regulatory front group Center for Consumer Freedom. Much of the information comes from the IRS form 990s filed by environmental nonprofit organizations.”

One unique resource spotted here is The Birdwatcher’s Guide to Global Warming, from the American Bird Conservancy and the National Wildlife Federation. The report (PDF; 2.02 MB), produced in 2002, “gives an in-depth analysis of how global climate change may affect populations of some bird species. In addition to the main report, there is a supplement for each of the lower 48 U.S. States.”

This entry was posted on Thursday, June 14th, 2007 at 12:39 am and is filed under Resource of the Week, Science, Source File. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.