Climate change is now the recognized term for what used to be called global warming, referring to the rise in average temperatures of the Earth's surface, including the air and ocean. The increase is attributed to the phenomenon known as the greenhouse effect, caused by the buildup of carbon dioxide, methane, and other greenhouse gases (GHGs), which prevent infrared energy from escaping and trap heat at the Earth's surface.
In 1997, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) formed the Kyoto Protocol, which was signed in Kyoto, Japan. The protocol had 186 countries sign a commitment to reduce greenhouse gases. Then, in December 2015, the Paris Agreement was adopted to improve or replace the Kyoto Protocol. It was signed by 197 countries and ratified by 187 countries as of November 2019.
Learn more at the Credo Reference search results on "Climate Change"
An article on climate change from CQResearcher.
From Global Social Issues: An Encyclopedia via Credo
A pro/con article from Issues & Controversies
Image via Gale in Context: Science
When using databases, it is useful to know related terms that might be used interchangeably but do not always mean the same thing, below are useful search terms:
Be aware that just because an article is found within a library database does not mean it's a scholarly article!
Some databases contain a variety of resource types (like Academic Search Complete or Opposing Viewpoints) while a few others are exclusively scholarly (like JSTOR). Be aware of options to filter your results to scholarly articles as well as the criteria for recognizing a scholarly source.
Check out this sample search to get a feel for how to construct a limited search.
Climate Change Science and Policy
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This is the most comprehensive and current reference resource on climate change available today. It features forty-nine individual chapters by some of the world's leading climate scientists. Its five sections address climate change in five dimensions: ecological impacts, policy analysis, international considerations, United States considerations, and mitigation options to reduce carbon emissions.
What We Know about Climate Change
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The vast majority of scientists agree that human activity has significantly increased greenhouse gases in the atmosphere--most dramatically since the 1970s. Yet global warming skeptics and ill-informed elected officials continue to dismiss this broad scientific consensus. In this updated edition of his authoritative book, MIT atmospheric scientist Kerry Emanuel outlines the basic science of global warming and how the current consensus has emerged. Emanuel calls for urgent action to reduce greenhouse gases and criticizes the media for downplaying the dangers of global warming (and, in search of "balance," quoting extremists who deny its existence).
Disputing Global Warming
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Global Warming - just that term evokes many people to nod their heads and fret about an impending climate disaster. In this book, the authors address some of the recent media coverage of global warming and Hollywood's involvement in the issue. Included is a discussion on former Vice President Al Gore's movie "An Inconvenient Truth". Recently, advocates of alarmism have grown increasingly desperate to try to convince the public that global warming is the greatest moral issue of our generation.
Why We Argue about Climate Change
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In Why We Argue about Climate Change, Eric Knight unpicks the misconceptions that keep us arguing about, and stop us seeing, the true nature of the problem - and its solutions. Why can't we learn anything about climate change from snowstorms or scorching temperatures? How have sceptics and believers confused politics and science in their war for public opinion? Is climate change a moral challenge or a technological one? With optimism and clarity, Knight cuts throught the distortions and distractions and proposes a better way forward.
The Madhouse Effect
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The award-winning climate scientist Michael E. Mann and the Pulitzer Prize-winning political cartoonist Tom Toles have been on the front lines of the fight against climate denialism for most of their careers. They have witnessed the manipulation of the media by business and political interests and the unconscionable play to partisanship on issues that affect the well-being of billions. The lessons they have learned have been invaluable, inspiring this brilliant, colorful escape hatch from the madhouse of the climate wars. The synergy of these two climate science crusaders enlivens the gloom and doom of so many climate-themed books--and may even convert die-hard doubters to the side of sound science.
Use these sample searches to begin your inquiry:
Use other databases to get news on climate change (and get around paywalls).
Access polls from respected news outlets, universities, and research organizations on thousands of timely topics—from climate change and elections to health care, economics, and popular culture. Includes over 750,000 poll questions from 1986 to today, with results you can view as bar graphs, pie charts, or raw data.
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This page was originally developed by Blaire Hiebsch.
First published: Summer 2020
This work by Lone Star College-University Park Library is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
