Slashgeo

The Map Room links to a profile of Kirstin Dow, co-author of The Atlas of Climate Change. From the profile: "One of the goals that Dow and Downing had when creating the book, was to make it's contents accessible for everyone, as they feel it is information everyone should know. They've accomplished that through a combination of clear, concise writing and colorful, easy-to-comprehend graphic elements. Loaded with basic, yet effective maps and charts, as well as photographs, the book is a user-friendly reference guide, as well as an interesting and informative read." I own two copies of this atlas. The geographic content is not omnipresent nor detailed, but it is definitely worth the read: well designed, informative maps, great content and even cheap price. I recommend it.

The Free GeoTools blog details the FAO World Climate data freely available. From the blog: "The United Nations Food And Agriculture Organization (FAO), AgroMet division, has compiled a database of climatic information gathered between 1961 and 1990 from close to 30,000 observation stations. This database, and applications designed to extract, analyze and map the data, are available online."

Via personal email, I've been introduced to the Climate Change Scenarios GIS data portal. From the website: "Welcome to NCAR's GIS Initiative Climate Change Scenarios GIS data portal. This portal is intended to serve a community of GIS users interested in climate change. The free datasets of climate change projections can be viewed on-line and/or downloaded in a common GIS (shapefile) or text file format. Many 2D variables from modeled projected climate are available for the atmosphere and land surface. These climate change projections were generated by the NCAR Community Climate System Model, or CCSM, for the 4th Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)." See also related stories below.

ecoresearch writes "Every 5th of June, the UN World Environment Day aims to stimulate awareness of environmental issues and encourage political action. This event emphasizes the importance of new forms of communication and collaboration for addressing global environmental problems. Acquiring, managing and applying knowledge are crucial steps in ensuring that change is conceived and implemented on both regional and society-wide scales. Publicly accessible Geospatial Web applications such as the Media Watch on Climate Change, just released by the ECOresearch Network in a significantly extended version, are a piece in the puzzle to increase transparency, create shared meaning and support sustainable processes. To help users access topical and relevant information, the Media Watch on Climate Change provides a continuously updated account of online media coverage on climate change and related issues. The portal aggregates, filters and visualizes environmental content from the Web sites of various stakeholders: 150 Anglo-American news media sites, blogs, environmental organizations, and the corporate sector. The user manual contains a detailed description of the portal's search functionality, trend charts and visual exploration features." Sorry for not actually publishing this on the 5th - I've been too busy lately. See also related stories below.