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Science-Rich Educational Videos on Climate Change
For classroom and discussion in colleges, churches, book clubs, living rooms, and other venues
Editor's note: This page mostly entails resources from 2012 to 2017 that help with understanding climate change science. In 2019, we learned of a link that can easily help people get started with reducing their own carbon footprint. While individual household action is no substitute for system-wide changes that only governmental initiatives at all scales must take, it can help relieve the despair and frustration of an otherwise compelling sense of non-agency, even doom, that citizens in the USA increasingly feel. So here is the link for individual efforts, created by staff at George Washington University: "Realistic Ways You Can Combat Climate Change, Today".
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AAAS "What We Know About Climate Change" project, published in March 2014, includes a superb report and 8 short videos. Pictured left is the introductory video, Consensus Sense. Recommended to watch after that are, the video interviews of Marshall Shepherd and Alan I. Leshner.
Note that this is a highly unusual advocacy statement by the world's most respected scientific organization. And, as with the March 2014 IPCC report, the emphasis is no longer on the most likely climate scenario but the risks of triggering massive and irreversible changes, and thus the importance of taking action to reduce those risks. |
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Superb 4-minute video by James Hansen, recorded at the December 2015 annual meeting of the American Geophysical Union. Earlier in 2015, Hansen and coauthors published a paper that got a lot of media attention — because it revealed how freshwater from melting glaciers blocks ocean water turnover near the ice sheets and thus forces the incoming warmer, salty water to stay deep. This melts the ice shelf from below. |
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Superb 18-minute video by Australian television (ABC, the program Catalyst) that shows images of recent extreme weather in the eastern hemisphere, followed by an illustrated science lesson on ocean warming (07:22 timecode) and jet stream anomalies caused by loss of Arctic sea ice (12:30). |
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A compact technical introduction to the jet stream
in text format is "A Rough Guide to the Jet Stream". |
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"Climate Change and Extreme Weather"
LEFT: Rutgers University climatologist Jennifer Francis is not only one of the top researchers on climate change but perhaps the best teacher for the serious learner. Both in her oral explanations and the images and animations she uses to illustrate scientific concepts, she is unsurpassed. Her specialty is the Arctic and her 2012 research brought forth important new understandings of how Arctic Sea Ice melt alters the jet stream — from a linear west-to-east whoosh across the upper northern hemisphere into a weird meandering river of wind. The shift to a north-south curvy meander, in turn, sets up "blocks" that hold summer high heat over middle North America and also "blocks" Atlantic hurricanes from turning eastward as they head north (hence, Superstorm Sandy in 2012). Note: VIDEO left by Connie Barlow excerpted the original 112-min video into just 40 minutes of spell-binding education. Click the "show more" link in video caption to see a detailed table of contents with hot-linked time-codes.
Or, view just the 5-minute segment on understanding the JET STREAM of Jennifer Francis's longer talk, which is essential for comprehending how a warming Arctic can produce unusually cold springs in temperate latitudes. | |
• 2016 UPDATE: Jennifer Francis addresses the same audience of professional weather forecasters (as the above) — and does an equally superb educational job, with updated science. 90 minutes
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In June 2013, Prof. Jennifer Francis presented an update of her "Arctic amplification" and "jet stream" work pertaining to extreme weather events. This video includes a superb discussion of time lags (03:11) and why the Arctic is warming faster (05:28) and how in 2013 "We are setting ourselves up for higher likelihood of heat waves and droughts as we lose this [Arctic] snow earlier." "We're seeing Arctic amplification not just in the fall and winter now, but in all seasons." Extraordinary sea ice loss during 2012 and how that heightens global warming (09:48). A clear and visual introduction to why Arctic warming disrupts the northern jet stream begins at 12:53. Comparison of jet stream disruption in the spring of 2012 (warm over eastern North America) v. spring of 2013 (cold) 24:05. The example of Superstorm Sandy in 2012: 25:41. DEC 2016 update by Jennifer Francis: "An Unusually Warm Arctic Year".
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See what the JET STREAM is doing in your region — each day, by clicking the sites pictured below:
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LEFT: Jennifer Francis testifies at climate change hearing of July 2013 US Senate Environment and Public Works Committee. Click for 6-minute video or the PDF testimony transcript (which includes illustrations). The written testimony is so clear and nontechnical that even an 8th grade earth science class could well use it.
Prof. Francis and two co-authors published a 2-page, illustrated article to help nonscientists understand the weather, jet stream, climate, and tidal conditions that caused hybrid storm Sandy October 2012.
RIGHT: Jennifer Francis's jet stream work became an important piece of climate science teaching by leading weather forecasters on broadcast and internet media in January 2014, when "the polar vortex" (released by a very weakened jet stream) provoked subzero temperatures in the eastern USA, while Alaska baked in record warm temperatures.
Note: A Washington Post "Capital Weather Gang" blogpost by Jason Samenow August 2013 on a study refuting the Arctic-sea-ice hypothesis for jet stream meandering generated a stream of technical arguments (including by Jennifer Francis) that demonstrate the difficulties of conducting and communicating science when the media and public are hungry for results (uncontested results) because the real-world consequences are severe indeed. This blogpost will give you access to the full debate: "Researcher defends work linking Arctic warming and extreme weather".
2014 AUDIO by Jennifer Francis: A superb 5-minute radio interview is available online in which Prof. Francis explains how a warming arctic is at root of the prolonged cold weather (polar vortex) in the eastern USA in 2014: "Research Points to Jet Stream in Brutal Winter".
See also an 11-minute video interview with Prof. Francis filmed in November 2014:"Arctic Sea Ice Loss, Jet Stream, and Climate Change".
UPDATE: As of summer 2015, Prof. Francis' most recent paper is "Evidence linking rapid Arctic warming to mid-latitude weather patterns" (with co-author Natasa Skific).
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"A melting Arctic and weird weather: the plot thickens", February 2015 online essay by Jennifer Francis, written for a non-science audience, shows the importance of coining evocative, memorable terms for scientific concepts.
Her short, highly illustrated essay ends:
"Our own new work, published last month in Environmental Research Letters, uses a variety of new metrics to show that the jet stream is becoming wavier and that rapid Arctic warming is playing a role. If these results are confirmed, then we'll see our weather patterns become more persistent. In other words, Ridiculously Resilient Ridges and Terribly Tenacious Troughs may become the norm, along with the weather woes they cause."
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FOUR SHORT VIDEOS (above and below; each less than 3 minutes)
that illustrate the science of arctic sea ice loss and disruption of the jet stream.
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"Hot Climate Women Scientists in Cool Places" 2013
00:01 Introduction: NEW SCIENCE IN 2013 (by science writer Connie Barlow)
01:06 JENNIFER FRANCIS teaches (1) why the melting of Arctic sea ice is causing extreme weather to the south; (2) how global warming has already weakened the jet stream, (3) why a weakened jet stream can cause longer-lasting droughts, bigger floods, and spring snow storms in the eastern USA, the UK, and eastern China.
18:20 JULIE BRIGHAM-GRETTE describes the rigors and excitement of an international expedition that extracted layered sediments going back nearly 4 million years from a crater lake in Siberia. From 3.2 to 3.6 million years ago, carbon dioxide in the atmosphere matched that of today — 400 ppm. Yet plant pollen (pine, hemlock, fir) preserved in the lake sediments indicate a far warmer climate in the Arctic then (forest rather than tundra), and thus warn us that fossil-fuel-burning over just two centuries of modern times has already set in motion unprecedented shifts in climate that will unfold in the centuries ahead. See 2014 news article on her work.
26:38 NATALIA RYBCZYNSKI shows the results of her paleontological exploration in the high Arctic. She unearthed fragments of a giant camel of Pliocene age (3.5 million years old) on Ellesmere Island, which confirms that forests reached far into an astonishingly warm Arctic when the atmosphere's measure of carbon dioxide matched that of today: about 400 ppm.
31:17 LISA GRAUMLICH (photo LEFT) is a paleoecologist who surveys the devastation of climate change already apparent in the mountain western USA: reduced snow pack, retreating glaciers (especially in Glacier National Park), dying trees, drying rivers, and a longer and far more destructive forest fire season.
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Superb 3-minute video of Julie Brigham-Grette communicating to the public the implications of our 400 ppm CO2 bringing us "back to the Pliocene" — when there was no Greenland ice sheet.
Central is her concern for coastal infrastructure, owing to sea-level rise, around the time "when my son is a grand-parent." (2015)
2017 UPDATE: Lengthy article, including news of Siberian lake pollen of 3 million years ago included Douglas-fir, walnut, and hemlock: "3M-year-old sediment tells the story of today's climate". |
| Video: March 2013 Summary of Climate Science Prof. Richard Somerville, a climate scientist at Scripps Institute of Oceanography, gives a 45-minute superb summary of key features and evidence of climate science and effects on Earth. This video is highly recommended for viewers who appreciate university-level science presentations that are clear, cognitive (rather than emotionally charged), and well illustrated.
04:15 Prof. Somerville gives tribute to Charles David Keeling
07:16 history of CO2 data records (Hawaii)
12:32 1850-2010 average global temperatures
16:00 ten indicators that the climate is warming (especially in ocean)
18:24 arctic sea ice loss 1979-2012
22:56 sea-level rise 1970-2010
25:12 correlation of CO2 to global temperature 1880-2012
28:13 central point: the need for urgent action, apparent in "Ski Slope Diagram" (chart at middle right) of how delays in reducing fossil fuel use require future years to accelerate the rate of change in order to stay within 2-degrees C of temperature rise
35:22 two future scenarios for temperature rise depending on mitigation start-time
37:28 worsening of extreme weather owing to CO2 rise
42:04 refuting climate denialists (incl. chart at lower right)
44:23 "Carbon dioxide increase is the steroids of the climate system. You don't see its effects in one weather event; you see it in the statistics" (Hurricane Sandy example)
46:10 closing remarks
49:20 "The role of science is to inform the public and policy makers. The urgency I speak about is not political or ideological; it is fact-based. It is firmly based on the physics of the climate system."
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Find excellent graphs and 2-minute videos at Somerville's ClimateCommunication.org.
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Examples of ClimateCommunication.org Short Science Videos
 
ABOVE LEFT: 2-minute introductory video to the science of methane stored in Arctic permafrost (2010)
ABOVE RIGHT: 6-minute video about the risk of land-based permafrost melting (2013)
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"Arctic v. Antarctic Sea Ice": richly illustrated video collage of short excerpts of answers by scientists on physical differences in Arctic v. Antarctic sea ice environments, and whether periodic extensions of sea ice along some parts of Antarctica offsets the large summer retreat of sea ice in the Arctic.
Scientists include: Claire Parkinson, Jennifer Francis, David Titley, Walt Meier, Ted Scambos, Sharon Stammerjohn, Marilyn Raphael, James Renwick.
7 minutes (November 2012) |
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LEFT and BELOW: Three key websites for daily data and animations.
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"The Uninhabitable Earth", by David Wallace-Wells, 9 July 2017, New York Magazine.
Controversial article by a reputable climate / science journalist that immediately went viral and attracted a great deal of pro and con commentary, critique, and counter-arguments.
Click here for AUDIO version (recorded by Michael Dowd).
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RIGHT: A scientifically trustworthy site for finding online resources (including VIDEOS) and with indicators for grade-level learning.
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RIGHT: A scientifically trustworthy site for locating VIDEOS explaining the SCIENCE and clips of videos highlighting the POLITICS of climate change action/inaction.
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Do's and Don'ts of Communicating Climate Science
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"Slaying the 'Zombies' of Climate Science" (2013)
In this crisp 18-minute talk, Dr. Marshall Shepherd (the 2013 president of the American Meteorological Society) explains how he goes about knocking down the "zombie theories" that plague our discussions about climate change. What is a zombie theory? Says Shepherd: "It's one of those theories that scientists have refuted or disproven time and time again, but they live on like zombies in the blogs and on the radio stations." Another superb analogy he uses: "Weather is your mood; climate is your personality."
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| In 2011 Susan Joy Hassol and Richard Somerville published a feature article in the leading professional physics journal, Physics Today: "Communicating the Science of Climate Change". Both figures here appear in that article with the tagline, It is urgent that climate scientists improve the ways they convey their findings to a poorly informed and often indifferent public.
Hassol and Somerville went on to create a website to help do just that: ClimateCommunication.org.
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"Katharine Hayhoe: Example of a Scientist Superbly Responding to a Climate Denier Politician" (2015)
Katharine Hayhoe, a climate scientist in Texas, responds to a member of the Austin TX city council. The link here keys to 4:12 minutes into the video, where her response begins. Scroll back on the timer button to first watch the councilman's denier remarks and question.
Also, watch Hayhoe's 2015 video TEDx: "What if climate change is real?" (18 minutes). While many scientists can educate and empower citizens who already are concerned about human-caused climate change, Dr. Hayhoe is singular in her ability to speak to fellow evangelicals, including those who reject "environmental" concerns and who listen to media that present unfavorable images of scientists.
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"An Inconvenient Mind — Mental Barriers to Confronting Climate Change" (2013) Twenty-five years of climate reporting (including for the New York Times, is journalist Andrew Revkin's ground for speaking on the immense challenges and the crucial leverage points for helping the public hear and grasp the realities of climate change now and in the future. Key topics include: Talk begins (03:02); how human psychology impedes climate action (05:43); problematic shift of media role & internet (17:40); schisms among climate concern leaders (22:06); leverage points (28:05); rich v. poor countries (35:14); facts v. uncertainties (42:10); human instincts miscalculate risks (46:46); what teachers need (48:17); scientists must collaborate with communicators (52:58)
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 (2013)"Psychological Perspective on Climate Change" In 50 minutes, Beth Karlin covers the challenges and opportunities of human psychology in dealing with climate change. She is a dynamic speaker and uses excellent illustrations. Highly recommended for everyone advocating for climate action. 34:30 timecode is the final section on behavioral interventions. | |
See also an essay by Maggie Klein "Are Our Emotions Preventing Us from Taking Action on Climate Change?" (2013).
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"How Common Threats Can Make Common (Political) Ground" (2013) In this 20-minute TED Talk, social psychologist Jonathan Haidt urges both liberals and conservatives to acknowledge the "asteroids" (most worrisome issues) in the other's camp as well as their own. Climate change is a major "asteroid" that liberals see heading for a collision with Earth, while Boomers using Medicare entitlements is a major "asteroid" that conservatives point to as a fiscal problem that must be dealt with.
Hour-long AUDIO interview with Haidt: "Climate Change and the Righteous Mind"
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"Scientists and NGOs Collaborate to Improve Climate Communication" (2013) Amanda Staudt, a senior scientist at the National Wildlife Federation offers best practices and a powerful example from her own experience with the 2012 draft of the U.S. multi-agency National Climate Assessment. She shows how old methods of publicizing governmental reports no longer work — and how NGOs can assist. Notably, social networks can no longer be ignored by report publicists.
In this 16-minute presentation, a single case study is used for making all the points. How the National Wildlife Federation ramped up media attention of a government climate report begins at timecode (04:35).
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Use Powerful Real-World Photos and Film (2013)
James Balog is the originator of the "Extreme Ice Survey". Its goal: to photographically document the rapid depletion of glaciers around the world. What his team discovered was so shocking that an independent filmmaker created the award-winning 2012 documentary Chasing Ice.
Balog's portion of this session at a science policy conference of the American Geophysical Union in June 2013 begins at 16:59, but the climate change part begins at 31:05 (which is where the image link at left will take you). Specific climate topics are: background and an amazing clip from the film (36:05); additional images of deglaciation (40:20).
Six-minute, high-impact conclusion begins at 51:38: "Nature isn't natural anymore." "Climate change matters if you breathe air, eat food, drink water, pay taxes." We are in the midst of a worldview shift from a long-accepted, but now "discredited truth: People can't change Earth."
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Create a MUSIC VIDEO by auto-tuning climate scientists (2012)
John Boswell is the young video artist who originated science music videos in 2009 with his multi-million viewed "A Glorious Dawn" (starring Carl Sagan). Here, in 4 minutes, he has Bill Nye, Isaac Asimov, Richard Alley, and David Attenborough "sing" the science underlying climate change and the imperative for climate action.
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Click below for a powerful 2014 multi-part series of VIDEO SHORTS that exemplifies superior climate communication:
Click below for a pair of PBS-sponsored, 7-minute climate videos that utilize a style very appealing to young adults. The science is top-notch, and illustrated by fast-paced, playful illustrations. Note: The host, Joe Hanson, leads the "It's Okay To Be Smart" series.
 
In 2018, Joe Hanson (above) launched a climate wake-up and educational series hosted by a group of young youtubers (below). Its new youtube channel is Hot Mess Channel. Sample two of the videos below:
 
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