Environment, Climate, & Weather

Climate Change & Global Warming

News and Articles:

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An annual report from the NOAA (National Oceananic and Atmospheric Administration) [t]racking recent environmental changes relative to historical records.

Climate Central

An independent organization of leading scientists and journalists researching and reporting the facts about our changing climate and its impact on the public.

Climate.gov

NOAA Climate.gov is a source of timely and authoritative scientific data and information about climate. Includes articles, news, maps, fact sheets, and more.

Climate Institute

Climate.org seeks to provide reliable information on climate change, energy and the environment. The site is regularly updated with recent news and articles.

Climate Reanalyzer

Climate Reanalyzer provides visualizations of existing publicly-available datasets and models… pertaining to climate change and to weather.

EnviroLink

A grassroots online community that unites hundreds of organizations and volunteers around the world with millions of people in more than 150 countries. EnviroLink is dedicated to providing comprehensive, up-to-date environmental information and news.

EPA.gov: Climate Change

Information about climate change science, greenhouse gases, climate change indicators, energy and the environments, and other related topics.

Everything You Need to Know About Climate Change (video)

Climate change can seem pretty complex, but we can all understand the core ideas. I want to explain everything from what we know is happening, to what we can do to stop it. After all climate change is happening, it’s us, it’s serious, but there is hope…

MIT Climate Portal

Overviews of climate change science, solutions, and related topics, written by scientists and experts.

NASA: Climate

Includes news, articles, graphics and media, blogs, Eyes on the Earth satellite views, and other information on climate change.

NASA: Climate Kids

Activities, information, and videos on climate change.

NOAA: Education: Resources: Climate

Understanding climatic processes and the resulting impacts of a changing climate are important as every living organism on Earth is affected.

NOAA: National Centers for Environmental Information

NCEI …is responsible for preserving, monitoring, assessing, and providing public access to the Nation’s treasure of climate and historical weather data and information.

State of the Climate

The State of the Climate report is an international, peer-reviewed publication released each summer to provide an authoritative and comprehensive annual summary of the global climate system. For a summary of the 2022 report (released Sept. 2023), try Reporting on the State of the Climate in 2022.

State of the Global Climate

Every year, WMO issues a Statement on the State of the Global Climate based on data provided by National Meteorological and Hydrological Services (NMHSs) and other national and international organizations. From the World Meteorological Organization.

What is climate change? A really simple guide

Human activities have increased carbon dioxide emissions, driving up temperatures. Extreme weather and melting polar ice are among the possible effects. From the BBC.

xkcd: Earth Temperature Timeline

Timeline showing the average temperatures over the last 20,000 years, with comments on natural and historical events during the period.

Where will you be able to live in 20 years? video

Explore how coastal communities are impacted by climate change and how they’re adapting to rising sea levels and extreme weather. From TED-Ed

Why the best place to live in the US will be the Rust Belt video

9-minute video discussing the effects of climate change on various parts of the U.S.

Endangered Species

24 of the most endangered animals in America: While our planet boasts incredible biodiversity, 99.9% of species that have ever existed on Earth are now extinct. Of the remaining 8.7 million plant and animal species, 23,000 are considered to be threatened with extinction…. (Insider, May 2020)
Biodiversity Hotspots: An article on biodiversity loss from a class at Penn State.
Center for Biological Diversity: Activism site with information about endangered species around the world.
Defenders of Wildlife: Wildlife: Information about the current status of various endangered species.
Earth’s Endangered Creatures: Earth’s Endangered Creatures lists endangered plants and animals of the world that are threatened with extinction. It is split into 11 parts–seven of which are the seven continents of our planet and also an Oceanic, Middle East, and Central America category.
EDGE of Existence: Evolutionarily Distinct & Globally Endangered: EDGE species are truly one of a kind. If they disappear there will be nothing similar left on the planet. Two-thirds are receiving little or no conservation attention. Help save these remarkable species.
Endangered Species International: We develop cutting-edge conservation science, implement this research in field projects around the world, and then link both research and results to local, national, and global policy by convening dialogues between governments, civil society and the private sector.
Explore the Biodiversity Hotspots: Information from CEPF (Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund) on places where biodiversity is critically endangered, and their work in those places.
GEOG-30N: Environment and Society in a Changing World: Online materials from a college class examining relationships between human activities and the physical environment.
Invasive Species 101 (video): Invasive species cost the global economy over a trillion dollars each year. Find out how these non-native organisms are introduced into an ecosystem, how they impact local communities, and which measures can be taken to help prevent the introduction of invasive species. From National Geographic. (June 2019)
IUCN Red List of Threatened Species: IUCN, the International Union for Conservation of Nature, helps the world find pragmatic solutions to our most pressing environment and development challenges. It supports scientific research, manages field projects all over the world … and among other things, publishes an ever-updated list of threatened species around the globe.
National Geographic: Education: Endangered Species: Articles, images, and videos about endangered species worldwide.
National Wildlife Federation: Wildlife Guide: National Wildlife Federation inspires Americans to protect wildlife for our children’s future. The wildlife gallery highlights declining and endangered animal species, primarily in North America.
NatureServe: The NatureServe Network empowers people to sustain biodiversity by making sure everyone has access to the knowledge they need to be better stewards of our shared lands and waters. We serve as an authoritative source of comprehensive, decision-quality biodiversity data. Includes the NatureServe: Explorer encyclopedia of plants and animals of the Americas.
New Scientist: Conservation: Articles, pictures, facts, links, and more.
New York State Department of Environmental Conservation: Information about nature and the environment in New York.
New York Times: Endangered and Extinct Species: A collection of articles on endangered species.
One million species at risk of extinction, UN report warns: The bonds that hold nature together may be at risk of unraveling from deforestation, overfishing, development, and other human activities, a landmark United Nations report warns. Thanks to human pressures, one million species may be pushed to extinction in the next few years, with serious consequences for human beings as well as the rest of life on Earth. (May 2019)
A Pathfinder to the Endangered Species Act of 1973: A legal reference to the Endangered Species Act.
U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service: Endangered Species: News and information about endangered species in the United States.
World Wildlife Fund: Includes information on Endangered Species, trade in endangered species. climate change, and related topics.

Environment and Ecology

Deforestation Explained: From National Geographic, this video and accompanying article explain how [h]uman-driven and natural loss of trees—deforestation—affects wildlife, ecosystems, weather patterns, and even the climate.
Earth Day Network: Earth Day is held every April 22 in honor of environmental protection. You can find more information at the EPA.gov and History Channel as well.
Encyclopedia of Earth: News, articles, pictures, videos, and further resources pertaining to Earth Science, the environment, climate, geography, pollution, energy, and a multitide of related topics.
EnviroLink: EnviroLink is dedicated to providing comprehensive, up-to-date environmental information and news.
Environmental News Network: News about environment, ecology, pollution, sustainability, climate change, and related topics. Includes article links, commentary, newsletters, radio, photogallery and more.
EPA (Environmental Protection Agency): The mission of the Environmental Protection Agency is to protect human health and the environment. Since 1970, EPA has been working for a cleaner, healthier environment for the American people.
Grist: Grist is a nonprofit, independent media organization dedicated to telling stories of climate solutions and a just future.
Living Planet Report: The Living Planet Report, WWF’s flagship publication released every two years, is a comprehensive study of trends in global biodiversity and the health of the planet.
NASA Earth Observatory: A freely-accessible publication on the Internet where the public can obtain new satellite imagery and scientific information about our home planet. The focus is on Earth’s climate and environmental change.
NASA Earth Observatory – Global Maps: Collection of maps NASA has published in recent years, showing Snow Cover, Sea Surface Temperature, Land Surface Temperature, Vegetation, Carbon Monoxide, Total Rainfall, and more.
National Centers for Environmental Information: Part of the NOAA, this site offers public access to the Nation’s treasure of climate and historical weather data and information.
National Geographic: Environment
National Geographic Education: Resource Library: Environment: Articles, images, and video provide information about a range of issues.
National Invasive Species Information Center (NISIC): Learn about the impacts of invasive species and the [U.S.] Federal government’s response, as well as read select species profiles and find links to agencies and organizations dealing with invasive species issues.
Nature Soundmap: Nature Soundmap is a non-profit project aimed at sharing nature’s most beautiful & inspiring sounds. Through our website, we hope to raise awareness of threatened habitats & endangered species, and provide a valuable resource for schools, educators and conservation organizations.
New York Times: Climate and Environment: Climate and environmental news for the U.S. and the world.
NOAA: National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration: NOAA works to understand and predict changes in climate, weather, oceans, and coasts, to share that knowledge and information with others… Their site includes tons of information on climate, weather-related disasters, the atmosphere, and the oceans.
Rainforests 101 (video): Rainforests are home to over half of the world’s plant and animal species. Learn about tropical and temperate rainforests, how they contribute to the global ecosystem, and the conservation efforts being done to protect these biomes. From National Geographic.
ResourceWatch: Resource Watch features hundreds of data sets all in one place on the state of the planet’s resources and citizens. Users can visualize challenges facing people and the planet, from climate change to poverty, water risk to state instability, air pollution to human migration, and more.
Science Daily: Earth and Climate News: View all the latest top news and top videos in the environmental sciences by headline or topic browse.
The Story of Stuff video: The Story of Stuff is a 20-minute, fast-paced, fact-filled look at the underside of our production and consumption patterns. In addition to the celebrated 2007 video, several newer short videos on related topics are also available here.
United Nations Environment Programme: The UN Environment Programme offers more than 15,000 items, from real-time data tools and platforms to key reports, publications, fact sheets, interactives and more.
What are the Environmental Effects of Bitcoin and NFTs?: Bitcoin and non-fungible tokens (NFTs) … the electricity needed to mine them is more than is used by entire countries and results in huge volumes of carbon emissions. At a time when many countries are targeting zero emissions, bitcoin and NFTs represent a real threat to the environment.

Green Living and Sustainability

45 Sustainability Resources You Need to Know

A roundup of noteworthy sites from Purdue Global.

Broome County Recycling Program

Recycling Quick Guide shows some of the most basic and common materials we do accept and a few of the contaminates many mistakenly place in their recycling bin. For further information on specific substances, check the Recycling and Reuse Guide.

Building Green

From a company for building professionals interested in building green, this site has some informative articles in its Knowledge Base.

Carbon Footprint

Corporate Knights

Corporate Knights promotes ‘Clean Capitalism’ and sustainable development in business and offer reports with Rankings of how corporations and countries are doing with sustainability.

Eat Well Guide

Free online database for finding fresh, locally grown and sustainably produced food in the United States and Canada. Listings range from stores, to farms, to restaurants, to local bakers and butchers, and visitors can search by location, keyword or category.

EPA: Greener Living

Our actions impact the environment. Each thing we do can help or hurt our planet in many ways. EPA has tools to help you learn and understand the issues and help you reduce your environmental footprint.

EPA: Pollution Prevention

Pollution prevention (P2) is any practice that reduces, eliminates, or prevents pollution at its source…

EPA: Sustainability

This site provides information on scores of EPA programs supporting sustainability that focus on the Built Environment; Water, Ecosystems & Agriculture; Energy; and Materials & Toxics on sustainability near you, and on how you can help.

Exactly What Every Plastic Recycling Symbol Actually Means

While the universal plastic resin symbol (three chasing arrows forming a triangle) remains the same, the numbers one through seven inside make a significant difference. FYI: Just because a product has the chasing arrows symbol, doesn’t mean it’s recyclable — it’s just an indicator of the type of plastic. Find out more about what the symbols mean and how to deal with each type of material.

Food Waste

Good Housekeeping: Green Living

Practical tips on how to be more eco friendly in your daily life.

Green America: Green Living

How to make the most sustainable living decisions for your home, family, and community..

Greenwashing

Greenwashing is when companies try to make their products sound healthier or more eco-friendly than they really are.

How Stuff Works: Green Living

Confused about what green means? Find out how your personal choices can affect the world we live in. Whether you’re dining or driving, we’ll show you how to be more eco-friendly.

National Geographic: Sustainability

This collection contains a selection of content from NG Education about sustainability.

Scientific American – Nature Outlook: Circular Economy

A collection of articles from December 2022 on the topic of [c]harting a path towards material sustainability.

SDG Tracker: Measuring progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals

The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are targets for global development adopted in September 2015, set to be achieved by 2030. Here we present data across all available indicators from the Our World in Data database tracking progress towards these goals around the world.

Top 11 Tips for Sustainable Eating

What you choose to put on your plate can make the most powerful impact on your personal environmental footprint.

What Is Sustainability and Why Is It Important?

Short discussion of sustainability from a site for those interested in environmental science careers.

Hurricanes

How Hurricanes Work: Discusses the lifecycle and anatomy of a hurricane, as well as the methods we use to classify and track these ultimate storm systems as they hurtle across the globe.
Hurricane Central: Hurricane forecasts, hurricane information, hurricane tracker and tropical storm information, updates and alerts with projected paths, maps, and hurricane video… From The Weather Channel.
Hurricanes and Tropical Storms: Information, images, archives about current and recent hurricanes from NASA.
National Hurricane Center: Information, images, statistics, preparedness, a Frequently Asked Questions page and more from NOAA.
National Hurricane Preparedness: Good overview of what to do in case of an oncoming storm from the National Weather Service.
NOAA: Hurricanes: Collection of articles and multimedia about hurricanes, including how they form and what they do, plus tracking and history data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
What is the difference between a hurricane and a typhoon?: Hurricanes and typhoons are the same weather phenomenon: tropical cyclones.

Tornadoes

10 Facts You Want to Know about Tornadoes

Facts amd figures about tornadoes from Scientific American.

10 Myths About Surviving a Tornado

To prepare for the worst, you’ll need to know what tornado survival tips to believe and, just as importantly, which ones to ignore.

Fire Tornadoes

National Geographic Kids: Tornadoes

Find out what causes these deadly twisters—and how to stay safe.

Tornado Safety

This National Weather Service website is designed to teach you how to stay safe when a tornado threatens. If you know what to do before, during and after a tornado, you will minimize your risk of injury and increase your chances of survival. You’ll also find links to research, past events other topics of interest as well as downloadable safety handouts about thunderstorms, lightning, and tornadoes.

Tornadoes

Discusses how tornadoes form and the impact they can have. From NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration).

Tornadoes strike again. How do they work?

General overview with images, including maps, diagrams, and a chart of wind speeds for tornado ratings. from the Why Files.

Weather

Earth: a global map of wind, weather, and ocean conditions: See current wind, weather, ocean, and pollution conditions, as forecast by supercomputers, on an interactive animated map. Updated every three hours.
How Stuff Works: Climate & Weather: Atmospheric sciences help us understand and predict the weather. Learn about topics such as the seasons, why it snows, and how rainbows are formed.
International Cloud Atlas: This Atlas describes the classification system for clouds and meteorological phenomena…. The classifications also describe meteorological meteors other than clouds – hydrometeors, lithometeors, photometeors, and electrometeors.
Jetstream: An Online Weather School: Welcome to JetStream, the National Weather Service Online Weather School. This site is designed to help educators, emergency managers, or anyone interested in learning about weather and weather safety.
Let It Snow! The Science of Winter: Snow – that icon of winter – blankets the land with a beautiful silence. Love it, hate it, we all depend on snow. From the National Science Foundation.
National Centers for Environmental Information: NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) is responsible for preserving, monitoring, assessing, and providing public access to the Nation’s treasure of climate and historical weather data and information.
Natural Disasters: Some of the worst natural disasters ever recorded have occurred in the past century and were captured in these powerful still and moving images. From National Geographic.
NOAA: The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has an excellent webpage about weather, climate, and ocean matters. NOAA’s tasks include daily weather forecasts, severe storm warnings and climate monitoring to fisheries management, coastal restoration and supporting marine commerce.
Severe Weather 101: Thunderstorms, tornadoes, floods, lightning, hail, damaging winds, and winter weather: this site explains what they are, where they come from, how they’re forecast, and more.
Weather Channel “Immersive Mixed-Reality” videos: The Weather Channel uses special effects to put reporters in the middle of a flash flood, tornado, wildfire, and other events.
Weather Spark: “The Typical Weather Anywhere on Earth Get monthly, daily, and hourly graphical reports. Great for event and trip planning!” Choose Celsius or Fahrenheit scale. Offers choice of several languages.
Weather Systems & Patterns: The local weather that impacts our daily lives results from large global patterns in the atmosphere caused by the interactions of solar radiation, Earth’s large ocean, diverse landscapes, and motion in space. An education resource from NOAA.
Weird Weather: How to Tell a Williwaw from a Haboob: You may have endured a frost quake, pogonip or Saskatchewan screamer without knowing it. Take our tour of weird weather terms to find out.
Windy: Interactive map where you can check not only wind, but temperature, rain, waves, snow, and other weather phenomena for the current day and forecast up to nine days in advance.
World Meteorological Organization: A United Nations Specialized Agency Working together in Weather, Climate and Water.

Weather Forecasts

Forecast Sites:: Accuweather — Forecast Advisor — National Weather Service — Weather Channel — Weather Underground — World Weather Information Service
Atmospheric Science: The atmosphere is the key to life on Earth. This thin layer is what protects us from the hostile environment of space. Here you can learn all about the atmospheric sciences.
Britannica: Weather Forecasting: Describes the history and methods of weather forecasting.
How Does Weather Forecasting Work?: This article from Science ABC discussed how data is gathered for forecasts, how it is used, and how accurate forecasts might be.
Weather Forecasting Through the Ages: Short overview of weather forecasting from ancient times through the present.
Why can’t scientists accurately predict the weather?: You might think that the National Centers for Environmental Prediction’s supercomputers could never make mistakes, but even their abilities aren’t up to the enormous challenge of weather forecasting.