Vignettes of Climate Change

My name is Andy Long, and I'm a professor of mathematics and statistics at Northern Kentucky University, just south of Cincinnati, Ohio, in the United States. I have prepared these "vignettes of climate change" to give interested parties a taste of some of my personal insights into climate change, and, in particular, insights into the personalities of those who have brought climate change to the fore. I do want to say a little about myself, and what motivates me in this struggle. If you want to learn more about my perspectives, guided by people like Wendell Berry and my experiences with development in Haiti and Togo, please read my piece on "anti-Education".

Global Climate Change (GCC) is pressing upon us, with devastating effects. My plan has been to determine how to weather the storm (literally and figuratively) that is impending; I am also interested in what the storm will look like. We must discover which social changes should be taking place now to minimize the effects, and pursue them; on the flip side, we must discover those effects which (increasingly) can't be avoided, such as extinctions, and prepare for them. My investigations and actions have thus focused on these vital ecological issues.

While there are many variables affecting global climate change, "...the burning of coal for electricity [is] the central problem of the climate crisis" (Al Gore, cited in Eric Pooley's The Climate War). One important focus of my efforts is the human use of coal, and the necessary transition away from it. This is my duty as a citizen of Kentucky, where coal is still king....

I have used my skills and platform as a professor of mathematics and statistics to communicate the results of my work with my students, for example presenting calculus within the context of climate change. Sharing these results has brought me into contact with other faculty working to bring these issues to the attention of a world-wide audience, to help increase environmental stewardship through research and education.

I look forward to communicating with you about climate change. Feel free to contact me at longa@nku.edu, and let me know your thoughts and questions. I'll be happy to talk to your group about aspects of climate change. Here are a few of my favorite aspects, but I have others, and will continue to introduce more of these vignettes as time goes on.

1. Overview:
   1. Climate Change's Big Picture -- a brief history of what we know, and how long we've known it.
   2. Our Atmosphere has Gas
   3. Earth's Carbon Cycles (why don't you?)
   4. Charles Keeling's Incredible Curve (the story of CO₂)
   5. Science and Proof: Incompatible
   6. The sad tale of the economics and politics of climate change and denial

2. Impacts:
   1. Corals and Oceans on Acid: Ocean Acidification
   2. The Sixth Mass Extinction: How many species can go extinct before ours does, too?
   3. Alexander MacKay and the speed of climate change
   4. Oh dear, where will Miami go? (sung to the tune of "Oh dear, what can the matter be?")

3. Issues:
   1. Tiny Footprints
   2. When and where does the "education" stop, and the "revolution" begin? And what will you do, and where will you be when it comes?

• I am grateful to the many authors and scientists from whom I've learned so much, but want to mention in particular the following (in no particular order):
  • The Warming Papers, Archer and Pierrehumbert, editors
  • Teaching About Climate Change: Cool Schools Tackle Global Warming, Grant and Littlejohn, editors
  • Our Endangered Atmosphere: Global Warming and the Ozone Layer, Gary McCuen, editor.
  • The Climate Change Reader, Bill McKibben, editor
  • Climate Change Indicators in the United States, 2012. An EPA publication, kindly provided to me in quantity free of charge for distribution to my students.
• Living in the Greenhouse -- UCAR teaches kids about climate change
• The University of California system provides a nice set of resources via their on-line textbook, Global Systems Science, for grades 9-12.
• For those in search of supporting graphics for climate change presentations, NOAA's CLIMGRAPH website is a useful resource. But the Trump administration blew it up. Here's an archive on the wayback machine. A local copy?
• The Daily Climate has the best climate change newsfeed I've found. Subscribe, and be informed!