Top Ten Climate Change Blogs
This week is the one-year anniversary of Climate Progress, so I’ve been looking at CP’s place in the blogosphere. I wanted an objective ranking, so I decided to use Technorati, which ranks all blogs by “authority” (the number of blogs linking to it). The lower the rank the better.
I have listed only blogs whose primary focus is climate, which excluded favorites like The Intersection. But if I included that one, I’d have to include general environmental blogs like Gristmill and lots of energy-centric blogs, resulting in a not-very-useful list for global warming junkies. I have also omitted the (very few) top-ranked Denyer blogs (sorry Steve McIntrye) — the Denyers get far more attention than they deserve already.
Here goes (recent Technorati rank in parentheses):
10. Accuweather Climate Blog (39,249) — “Global warming news, science, myths, articles.” A good general interest climate blog.
9. Climate Feedback (34,124) — “An informal forum for debate and commentary on climate science.” A useful new blog, sponsored by Nature magazine. On the downside, you’ll have to endure posts by Roger Pielke, Jr.
8. Climate of Our Future (24,327) — “A discussion on climate change.” Another good general interest climate blog.
7. It’s Getting Hot In Here (20,428) — “Dispatches from the youth climate movement.” There is hope for the next generation after all!
6. Climate Progress (16,087) — “An insider’s view of climate science, politics, and solutions.” A fast-rising (relative) newbie.
5. Climate Ark (15, 917) — “Climate Change and Global Warming Portal.” A good blog and a great news feed.
4. DeSmogBlog (8,454) — “Clearing the PR pollution that clouds climate science.” A very good all-around climate blog.
3. Celsias (5,455) — “Cooling the planet one project at a time.” A (mostly) climate solutions website.
2. A Few Things Ill Considered (3968) — “A layman’s take on the science of Global Warming featuring a guide on How to Talk to a Climate Sceptic.” As much a news feed as a blog, but both are great.
And the winner, by a landslide:
1. RealClimate (790) — “Climate science from climate scientists.” The mother of all climate blogs. The posts and the comments are both “must reads.”
Thank you to every blog that has linked to me. [If I have missed any dedicated climate blogs above a Technorati rank of 39,249 — please let me know.]
August 28th, 2007 at 9:35 pm
Joe,
Great to see that you think that there is hope for us. I think that all the sites listed above are fantastic.
However, one note of caution. As with Climate Science, you need multiple sources of data. While Technorati is valuable, it does not capture traffic. For example, It’s Getting Hot in Here gets approximately 3-5X the daily traffic of A Few Things Ill-Considered. They are well linked to, due to their excellent guide: How to talk to a Skeptic.
August 28th, 2007 at 9:59 pm
Thanks Joe — er, cause my site is listed : )
It’s a very digg-friendly story. So I dugg it here: http://digg.com/ environment/ Top_10_Climate_Change_Blogs_according_to_Technorati
August 29th, 2007 at 9:18 am
“Technorati Authority is the number of blogs linking to a website in the last six months. The higher the number, the more Technorati Authority the blog has.”-from Technorati.
August 29th, 2007 at 9:43 am
Richard: What site do you use for ranking by traffic? I found a flaw in Alexa.com that made me a bit skeptical (plus they rank all sites, not just blogs).
Shannon: It’s better to have a higher Technorati authority, but a lower ranking — I grant that it is confusing.
August 29th, 2007 at 1:05 pm
oops!
August 29th, 2007 at 11:28 pm
Joe thanks for doing your research. I often wondered where I stood in the blogosphere. Number 8 is great!
August 30th, 2007 at 1:04 am
The AccuWeather blog isn’t very good since they strive for a “balance of all points of view” (i.e. they include lots of denialist crap) and the forecasters assigned to moderate it don’t know much of anything about climate science.
The Weather Channel’s Forecast Earth is much better, featuring an in-house climatologist and journalist who each write extensive original posts. Unfortunately, they have decided against active moderation of the blog comments, which means it’s pretty well dominated by denialist rants.
August 30th, 2007 at 9:09 am
Is there a way to generate a Climate Digest, ie the Best of the Best? I suspect that the (or a) next step in the blogosphere.
September 5th, 2007 at 2:17 am
Hey Dave,
That’s a great idea! Have that on my desk for me by tomorrow morning.
December 31st, 2007 at 4:20 pm
My fellow Indians & fellow world-citizens,
In the closing hours of 2007, I wish you a very Happy New Year. I sincerely pray that all of us find contentment and fulfilment in life… but there is a great deal of rethinking as to the nature of that contentment and fulfillment.
1) Let me tell you up front that I’m actively praying, in thought and action, that all our earnings and expenditures go into decline mode… and let mine be foremost in leading this trend. I do not wish PROSPERITY on any of us. Contentment, yes, but not prosperity, not richness… because each person’s richness beggars hundreds of creatures, unknown to him.
2) I wish and pray that in the year to come, we shall learn to cease the endless quest of fulfilment through ever-higher incomes and conspicuous consumption, competition with our neighbours, colleagues etc. On a personal level and other levels — social, professional, industry, national and global — we shall seek NOT TO OUTDO each other, and also not to outdo our own past economic performances. Let us get off this treadmill for three reasons: (i) It is poisoning our planet to death, and causing a wave of mass extinction (ii) It is personally meaningless, unfulfilling, unrewarding and deeply immoral (iii) Another quest patiently awaits us: an infinitely more fulfilling inward-leading quest, an ancient, ageless quest of Magellanic dimensions.
3) I pray that our economic growth ceases and indeed, declines. I pray that this happens irrespective of what the citizens or governments of USA, Pakistan or other countries do or think with their economies. I hope that this happens with a minimum of suffering all around… but as suffering is an inevitable part of this scenario of necessary decline, I pray that my family and I are among the foremost and not the hindmost in swallowing this bitter pill and smiling through our tears.
4) At some level, I find myself hoping that our NEEDS, principally food and security, are met. However, there is a problem here: while need for food can be met rather cheaply, there is no end to our need for ’security’; it is a bottomless pit. My current savings, insurance, retirement annuities etc, may be sufficient to ensure that if I stop earning with immediate effect, my family has enough to get by for another decade or so until one of my two children to start earning a living to support our family. This is far more security than any animal would enjoy, more than EVEN ONE of my millions of ancestors may have ever enjoyed. So let my family, and yours, learn to be content with far lower levels of security; this I pray.
5) The nature of our economy and our civilization keeps us all on a perpetually moving treadmill. If we stop, we do so at risk of severe injury! Yet, in order to stop this infernal device that is poisonous to our planet, we must earnestly believe that there is indeed a life outside this treadmill. I pray for faith that is as monumental and more unshakeable than this infernal machine.
6) A word of caution: mere charity and altruism is not enough. Our love of the world must go beyond charity and philanthropy; it must manifest as something infinitely more meaningful than mere ‘purse seva’. Our economies EXPLOIT our altruism as another need, and this includes our concern for a world ravaged by global warming. We are often given the impression that by some acts of charity or philanthropy, we can ’support’ the greening of our planet. We are offered the comfort of thinking that if we are prepared to ‘pay a tax for our sins’ – such as a carbon tax, buying carbon credits, or paying to plant trees to ‘offset’ our carbon footprint — we can continue to consume more, produce more, pursue economic growth etc. At the heart of such claims, one discerns a deep-seated cynicism and the same devices that make our economies perpetually grow. These charities and these economic devices milk us as surely as corporates manufacturing various goodies; in the end, they lull us to sleep, motivate us to grow some more, and consume the earth some more.
7) Please, I beg you, do not allow your conscience to be lulled back to sleep. Please refuse the comfort of a bed that is lined with the corpses of your fellow creatures on earth and your own descendents, both unborn and already born. Please refuse the blood-tainted pleasures of consumerism and the opium of economic-growthism. In 2008, please awaken fully and stay alert. Please be aware, and step from awareness into action.
9) In 2008, please do the right thing by voluntarily accepting lower standards of living, cutting up your credit cards, paying up your consumer loans and refusing to all inducements to take loans. Please buy less, spend less, and despite all discomforts, use public transport instead of your private cars.
Please be visibly more frugal, austere, simple… and motivate others to the same. Please love others enough to refuse to compete with them. The time has come to stop being career-minded, business-minded, commercial-minded, consumer-minded. It is time to give back to this world without expectations. It is time to let go of the collective stranglehold that we have on this planet.
My friends, let us spend more time rediscovering the pleasures of just being with our friends, families, dogs, cats, plants, trees. Hug and kiss them more, serve them with greater humility. Be more loving and caring to strangers and casual acquaintances. And yes, let us learn to lavish on our own inner selves the love and attention that we have hitherto been giving our material possessions, our bank accounts and our portfolio of stocks. Please disinvest in the what is gross, and invest in your sublime self.
Please understand the spirit in which I offer these somewhat bitter-sounding greetings, and accept them in good grace.
With all my love
Krish
http://friendlyghost.rediffiland.com
http://globalwarming.rediffiland.com