Atmosphere, Climate and Environment Information Programme (UK)

IN RESPONSE TO rising concerns about climate change and global warming at the end of the 20th century, the government of the United Kingdom created the Atmosphere, Climate, and Environmental Information Programme (ACE) as the academic arm of the Atmospheric Research and Information Centre (ARIC). Operating under the auspices of the Department for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) and supported by the Department of the Environment, Transport, and Regions (DETR), ACE was established in part as a means of promoting DETR's “Are You Doing Your Bit?” campaign. Activities of the ACE were directed at educating the public about the ways in which human activities affect climate change and in promoting national legislation and international cooperation in mitigating those effects.

In 2005 DEFRA withdrew financial support for the Atmosphere, Climate, and Environmental Information [Page 84]Programme. However, much of the information distributed by ACE remains available in ACE pamphlets, papers, reports, and the internet. Through Manchester Metropolitan University, the ACE website continues to serve as a clearinghouse for information on topics such as the British government's efforts to curb air pollution, ways in which the public can mitigate the effects of air pollution on climate change, and statistics on emissions of pollutants in the United Kingdom 1970–2000. ACE data on governmental efforts to combat climate change, ozone depletion, and British participation in the Kyoto Protocol are also available. The ACE website continues to serve as a major resource of information on the environment for teachers and young students, offering basic facts, games, and puzzles.

The Atmosphere, Climate, and Environmental Information Programme's most lasting contribution may arguably be two comprehensive online encyclopedias. The award-winning Encyclopedia of the Atmospheric Environment offers some 400 essays on topics that include climate change, global warming, acid rain, and the weather. A number of articles offer supporting photos and statistics. Published in both English and French, this encyclopedia provides information to individuals from elementary school age to college and beyond who are concerned with global warming and climate change. The encyclopedia also serves as a valuable resource for government agencies, advocacy groups, industry, and nongovernmental organizations. The “References and Further Reading Section” of the encyclopedia directs interested parties to printed sources that explore global warming and climate change topics in greater depth.

More action-oriented than its sister encyclopedia, the Encyclopedia of Sustainable Development is available only in English. It provides access to approximately 100 articles that are designed to explain the intricacies of sustainable development to a general audience. In addition to the two online encyclopedias, between March 1998 and November 2004, ACE annually published six issues of Atmospheric Issues, a newsletter that gathered information from around the world on topics dealing with air pollution, air quality, climate change, ozone depletion, renewable energy, transport, and sustainable development.