Climate change is a growing concern worldwide, but it’s still not fully understood or accepted. There are far too many platforms to hear about it from activists, deniers, politicians, people in business, and others with vested interests, which leads to unreliable information. Instead, why not hear about the topic straight from climate scientists?
Scientists are typically not great at communicating their data and opinions in engaging and informative ways for an average person. That’s why these five online resources try to simplify the technical points about climate change from researchers and experts who know what they’re talking about.
1. More Than Scientists (Web): Short Insightful Videos by Climate Scientists
More Than Scientists is a collection of videos by climate change scientists where they reflect upon what they’ve seen, heard, and experienced already, as well as what they expect from the future. You’ll hear everything from first-hand accounts of researchers in Antarctica to future projections by leading minds with over 40 years of experience in the field.
You can view the most recent or popular videos, or filter them by topics like adaptation, family, future generations, optimism, personal, scientific consensus, storms and disasters, science, taking action, younger generations, and impact on various things. Most videos are about 2-3 minutes long, with the scientist talking directly to the camera — no complicated statistics or slideshows.
More Than Scientists hasn’t been updated since 2018, but the concerns and insights are relevant even today. The website is still open for video submissions from scientists and provides a quick guide on shooting and uploading your message.
2. Is This How You Feel? (Web): How Scientists Feel About Climate Change
You often hear climate change scientists talking about facts and figures, and laying out the consequences of global warming on society. Joe Duggan holds a Master’s in Science Communication, which makes his purpose about telling people about science in creative and engaging ways. Is This How You Feel (ITHYF) is a project he designed to make people see the human side of climate change scientists, and tap into their heart rather than their brain.
Duggan asked leading climate change scientists, “How does climate change make you feel?” And he urged them to write their answers with pen and paper, to make it more personal. The original ITHYF collects and displays these letters (along with transcripts for easier reading on screen). Duggan revisited the project five years later, and in ITHYF5, you can see letters from the original contributors answering the same question after five more years of climate change, and the action or inaction around it.
The project was such a success that other scientists wrote in to ITHYF, which can all be read on the website. It’s a good way to gain some perspective, because as Duggan says, “They’re not robots. These scientists are mothers, fathers, grandparents, daughters. They are real people. And they’re concerned.”
3. Fear and Wonder (Podcast): Simplifying the IPCC Report With Scientists Who Wrote It
The United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is the leading international body for reliable data and analysis of climate change. Since 1990, every few years, the IPCC releases an Assessment Report that is considered to be the gold standard for climate change data, with thousands of scientists globally contributing to it. The IPCC’s Sixth Assessment Report, released in 2001, is filled with data, tables, citations, and jargon that make it a daunting read for the layperson. But it’s important for each individual to understand what these scientists are saying and act upon it.
Fear and Wonder is a podcast hosted by IPCC lead author Dr. Joelle Gergis and podcast journalist Michael Green, where they demystify and explain the report. In the 8-episode series, the hosts tackle one particular area or issue from the report and meet with the climate scientists who wrote it. Each episode is about 45 minutes, where Gergis and Green do an excellent job of simplifying key technical subjects and addressing causes, effects, and what action anyone can take about it — all straight from the horse’s mouth of the scientist who knows most about it.
With the Sixth Assessment Report, the IPCC also launched an interactive atlas where you can visualize the data and run simulations. It’s one of the coolest and most impressive online tools to visualize climate change.
4. ClimateAdam (YouTube): Climate Change Videos From a Climate Scientist
While getting his Ph. D. in atmospheric physics from the University of Oxford, Dr. Adam Levy realized the large gap between the information out there about climate change and the average person’s understanding of it. Every scientist wants to take action, and his approach was to create a YouTube channel, ClimateAdam.
Through his videos, ClimateAdam simplifies and explains a variety of topics related to climate change, global warming, environmental sciences, and related subjects. Like some of the best educational YouTube channels, he focuses on making content that is informative and fun at the same time, whether through graphics, jokes, or engaging stories.
ClimateAdam’s playlists are worth going through because, unlike a lot of YouTube creators, he doesn’t only select his own videos. If another creator’s video is going to help you understand a topic better, it’ll be part of the playlist.
5. TILClimate (Podcast): Climate Change Issues Explained in 15 Minutes by Experts
TILClimate, or Today I Learned: Climate is an award-winning podcast series from MIT. Instead of talking only to climate scientists, it leverages the variety of experts in the university to understand how climate change impacts every single thing from economics to national security.
In each episode, host Laur Hesse Fisher focuses on one topic that is currently being affected by changes in the environment, speaking to a core expert on that topic. The episodes are quite short, with the average length being about 15 minutes, and are aimed at explaining it to someone who doesn’t know anything about the topic.
TILClimate has run four seasons since 2019, with an average of 8-10 episodes in each season. The fifth season is yet to start, so this is a good time to catch up. If you like the podcast, you should also check out MIT’s Climate Portal for more information on climate change and how you can help.
How You Can Fight Climate Change With Tech
The more you understand the science of climate change without agenda or vested interests adding to the opinion, the more you feel compelled to take action. And in this too, technology makes it easier. There are some fantastic apps to reduce your carbon footprint, which ranges from changing your regular search engine to daily prompts for small tasks that add up to make big changes.