How you can find out more about, and contribute to doing something about, the climate crisis?
The purpose of this list is to stimulate research / education / discussion / action.
Inclusion here does not necessarily signify endorsement by Auckland Unitarian Church.
Carbon Footprint Calculators
https://www.toitu.co.nz/what-we-offer/carbon-management
Gen Less – supported by EECA (the NZ Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority).
How to REDUCE your carbon footprint
Do One Thing – Climate Change
NZ Ministry for the Environment – What You Can Do
Living Differently
Solar Zero – solar panel installation
The price of a solar power system (NZ), Complete the online form to receive quotes from 3 different local solar power installation companies.
Sustainable Living [Auckland Public Library]
How to OFFSET your carbon footprint
https://www.carbonclick.com/ Green button that adds a small extra charge to online purchases for carbon offset of that purchase
https://ekos.co.nz/ Payroll deductions for climate footprint offset
Offset – Mitigate your carbon footprint | Toitū Envirocare Toitū Envirocare holds accounts in several external carbon credit registries as the means to publicly cancel (or equivalent) credits used to offset emissions …
Legislation
2020 December NZ Parliament Motions — Climate Change—Declaration of Emergency
NZ Climate Change Response (Zero Carbon) Amendment Act 2019
The New Zealand Emissions Trading Scheme is the Government’s main tool for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. (NZ ETS Wikipedia)
The Climate Change Laws of the World database is the most comprehensive global resource on climate litigation, climate legislation, and climate policy. (New Zealand)
2021 July Lawyers for Climate Action NZ v. The Climate Change Commission
Resources for Climate Education
Academic Research
2021 October . World Meteorological Association State of Climate in 2021: Extreme events and major impacts Past 7 years set to be the warmest on record, sea level rise at new high.
2016 The Lancet: Global and regional health effects of future food production under climate change: a modelling study. The model projects that by 2050, climate change will lead to per-person reductions of 3·2% (SD 0·4%) in global food availability, 4·0% (0·7%) in fruit and vegetable consumption, and 0·7% (0·1%) in red meat consumption. These changes will be associated with 529 000 climate-related deaths worldwide (95% CI 314 000–736 000).
Books
The Ministry for the Future (Fiction) [Auckland Public Library]
by Kim Stanley Robinson.
Established in 2025, the purpose of the new organization was simple: To advocate for the world’s future generations and to protect all living creatures, present and future. It soon became known as the Ministry for the Future, and this is its story.
The Future We Choose: Surviving the Climate Crisis [Auckland Public Library]
by Christiana Figueres, Tom Rivett-Carnac.
The authors outline two possible scenarios for our planet. In one, they describe what life on Earth will be like by 2050 if we fail to meet the Paris climate targets. In the other, they lay out what it will be like to live in a carbon neutral, regenerative world.
Drawdown: The Most Comprehensive Plan Ever Proposed to Reverse Global Warming [Auckland Public Library]
by Paul Hawken (Editor).
In the face of widespread fear and apathy, an international coalition of researchers, professionals, and scientists have come together to offer a set of realistic and bold solutions to climate change. One hundred techniques and practices are described here—some are well known; some you may have never heard of.
The Parents’ Guide to Climate Revolution: 100 Ways to Build a Fossil-Free Future, Raise Empowered Kids, and Still Get a Good Night’s Sleep [Auckland Public Library]
by Mary DeMocker (Goodreads Author), Bill McKibben (Foreword).
Entertaining, inspiring, and science-sound climate activism for families wanting to “be the change” they want to see.
Carbon Tax
2 articles from The Conversation
2021 June Why a carbon price alone won’t be enough to drive down New Zealand’s emissions
2020 July Carbon pricing works: the largest-ever study puts it beyond doubt
Data
Climate Trace Tracking greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from nearly every major human-caused emitting activity worldwide (New Zealand – 0.17% OF TOTAL GLOBAL EMISSIONS)
Recent Daily Average Mauna Loa CO2
Our World In Data – Climate Change
Global Climate Observing System (GCOS)
Definitions
What is ‘climate sensitivity’?
The Keeling Curve is a graph that shows the ongoing change in the concentration of carbon dioxide in the Earth’s atmosphere.
COP26 was the 26th United Nations Climate Change conference (2021)
IPCC Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (1988) is the United Nations body tasked with assessing the science related to climate change (Wikipedia)
UNFCCC United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (1994) (Wikipedia)
Film
An Inconvenient Truth (2006)
Al Gore on the lecture circuit.
An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power (2017)
Shows just how close we are to a real energy revolution.
Climate Refugees (2010)
If an “Inconvenient Truth” was about what causes climate change, this film is about what are the effects of climate change on our civilization.
2040 G 2019 ‧ Documentary/History ‧ 1h Concerned about his young daughter’s future, filmmaker Damon Gameau travels the world in search of new approaches and solutions to climate change. He meets with innovators and changemakers in many fields to draw on their expertise.
History
Charles David Keeling an American scientist whose recording of carbon dioxide at the Mauna Loa Observatory confirmed Svante Arrhenius’s proposition (1896) of the possibility of anthropogenic contribution to the “greenhouse effect” and global warming, by documenting the steadily rising carbon dioxide levels. The Keeling Curve measures the progressive buildup of carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas, in the atmosphere.
Svante Arrhenius, the Man Who Foresaw Climate Change
Initiatives
Countdown TED – a global initiative to champion and accelerate solutions to the climate crisis, turning ideas into action.
An Action Plan for Solving the Climate Crisis
News Sources
Bloomberg Green – including PPM CO2 live dashboard
NY Times: Climate
How Much Are Countries Pledging to Reduce Emissions? Too little, too late
Stuff
July 2018 What is the NZ Government’s Zero Carbon Bill and will it do anything?
UN News: Climate and Environment
Climate Change UNFCCC
Offsets
Billion Trees Announced in 2018, this programme of Forestry New Zealand has planted over 250,000,000 trees by the end of 2020
Speakers
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change #IPCC
United Nations
November 2021 Submission under the Paris Agreement . New Zealand’s first Nationally Determined Contribution (PDF)
Unitarian Universalist Association
Climate Change Religious Education Curriculum aimed at fourth and fifth graders.
Ministry for Earth Create Climate Justice
World Bank
The World Bank Group is the biggest multilateral funder of climate investments in developing countries.
YouTube
2021 November COP26: Blah, Blah, Blah Clay Nelson (transcript and links)
2021 October Climate Action Tracker TED 5:33
2021 October NOAA History of atmospheric CO2
2020 April – In NOAA’s Earth Day talk Jim Butler discusses the history of atmospheric carbon dioxide, how it’s measured and why it matters.