New short videos to explain climate change

Short videos to explain climate change

by Danny Chivers and Richard Roaf

There is more flooding because of climate change all over the world. (SFTHQ under a Creative Commons Licence)

It can be difficult to understand climate change. It brings together so many things: science and politics, history, international relations, energy, poverty, natural disasters, eco-campaigning and the choices we make in our day-to-day lives. And information comes from so many different places.

The No-Nonsense Guide to Climate Change Video Project wants to end this confusion and give you the most important information, in a friendly, lively way with no technical language. We’ve tried to make these short films fun and informative and supported by the latest science and research. On the No-Nonsense Videos website (http://nononsensevideos.org/), you will be able to see the script next to each video, with more explanations of the facts, figures and links to get more information and take action. The first video is The No-Nonsense Guide to Climate Science.

Watch it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0RyGc8k-BqQ

More No Nonsense videos coming soon.

Who are we?

The main people working on this project are Danny Chivers, climate change writer and Richard Roaf, campaigner and filmmaker. Danny wrote the The No-Nonsense Guide to Climate Change and has been researching, writing and taking action on climate change for over 15 years. Richard produces videos that help people understand difficult topics (http://alter-eco.co.uk/).

These videos are part of the No-Nonsense series from New Internationalist, an award-winning magazine and publishing house known for excellent journalism on a range of world issues. This is the first set of videos to form part of the series.

Some films and textbooks say they give a balanced view about climate change. This is a nice idea, but impossible. Climate change affects, and is affected by, almost everything in our lives. It’s impossible for anyone to talk about it and not include their own opinions and beliefs.

So we’re going to be honest about it: we’re going to tell you what we believe:*

1. Climate change is a serious problem and will affect, or is already affecting, everyone on the planet.

2. There are many other serious problems in the world, eg. poverty, inequality, war, or simply trying to survive. It’s important that the solutions to climate change don’t make these problems worse. So we should try to work on the problems of climate change in ways that help with these other problems at the same time.

3. The solutions to climate change should be as fair as possible. The people who are most responsible for the problem should put the most time, energy and money into the solutions. The people who suffer most from climate change should have a big influence on how to solve it. This is basic fairness.

4. Climate change isn’t simply a technical problem with putting the wrong amount of some gases into the air. It’s closely connected with politics, lifestyles, economics, power structures, culture and belief. This is why it’s so difficult to solve. And also why it’s so terrible and at the same time important to everyone in the world.

Is that reasonable? If not – if you think that everything’s perfect in the world, or that climate change is just a small, unconnected problem –please watch these short films anyway. We will try to persuade you. It’ll be fun.

• from: The No-Nonsense Guide to Climate Change.

As this article has been simplified, the words, text structure and quotes may have been changed. For the original, please see: http://newint.org/blog/2013/11/13/no-nonsense-climate-change-videos/