Library Guides: EVST 001: Introduction to Environmental Studies: Getting Started

Background Research

Fundamentals of Negotiation
Tips on UN-style negotiations from Model United Nations
United Nations Climate Change research guide
Links to United Nations publications, initiatives, and resources on climate change.
"Protecting the Biosphere and Its Inhabitants" in Fasulo, Linda, An Insider’s Guide to the UN. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2003.
Overview on UN efforts to protect the environment, written in 2003.
UNFCCC reports from Copenhagen (2009)
Documents from the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change proceedings in Copenhagen, December 2009. Includes agenda, reports, documents, and decisions from the conference.

UN Member States documents
Organized by country name, this page provides documents, mission statements, speeches, and more reflecting the views of United Nations Member States.
BBC News Country Profiles
Provides a guide to the history, politics and economics of countries and territories. Use it to locate background information on important international institutions and NGO's. You can also find audio and video from the BBC archives.
CIA World Factbook
Updated on a bi-weekly basis, the CIA Factbook, give a quick snapshot of each nation's demography, economy, government, geography, and other sectors such as transportation, communication, transportation and military.
World Bank Open Data
Open access to data about development in countries around the globe. Note: use "browse by Country" to find information on your assigned country.

IPCC Fourth Assessment Report (2007)
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Contribution of Working Groups I, II and III to the Fourth Assessment Report of the IPCC. Core Writing Team, Pachauri, R.K. and Reisinger, A. (Eds.)
IPCC, Geneva, Switzerland.
CO2 Science
This site provides information on the up side of climate change and the benefits of added CO2. This group receives major funding from energy industries.
Skeptical Science
A summary of global warming and climate change myths, sorted by recent popularity vs what science says.
Center for Climate and Energy Solutions
The successor to the Pew Center on Global Climate Change and a credible, independent force for pragmatic climate action.
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Named by the University of Pennsylvania the world’s top environmental think tank in 2011 and 2009, the nonpartisan Center was a valued source of information and analysis, an effective bridge between diverse interests, and an established leader in catalyzing constructive business engagement.

For political, social, and economic background information:

Council on Foreign Relations Explainers
The CFR provides succinct explanations of current political and economic issues. Can be browsed by issue, region and year. The Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) is an independent, nonpartisan membership organization, think tank, and publisher.

CQ Researcher This link opens in a new window
An excellent source for background information and getting started on a topic, CQ Researcher encompasses original, comprehensive reporting and analysis on issues in the news. It offers in-depth, unbiased coverage of political and social issues.
Covers a wide range of topics including: health, international affairs, education, the environment, technology, the U.S. economy, crime, and civil liberties.
CIAO: Columbia International Affairs Online This link opens in a new window
Full text of working papers from university research institutes, occasional papers series from NGOs, foundation-funded research projects, proceedings from conferences, books, journals and policy briefs.
Covers 1991 onward.

Congressional Research Services Reports from UNT
The Congressional Research service issues reports to Congress on important topics. The Univ. of North Texas makes reports available.
U.S. Energy Information Agency; Natural Gas
Provides data on exploration and reserves, storage, imports and exports, production, prices and sales.
United States Environmental Protection Agency
Official Website of the EPA. A quick way to drill down to info on your topic is to use the popular topics list. You can also search the website by Keyword in the top right searchbox.