Climate Interactive – The Blog – Tools for a Thriving Future

A Scientist Heads to Capitol Hill, Climate Bathtub in Hand

Cultivating bridges between science and policy is essential for progress on climate change. Here Dr. Max Moehs of the American Society of Plant Biologists highlights his insights after recent meetings with members of the U.S. Congress.

Impressions of Climate Science Day

By: Charles Paul “Max” Moehs, Ph.D.
Cross-posted from ASPB Plant Blog

Dr. Max Moehs discusses climate change with Sen. Maria Cantwell (WA).

In 1962, when I was born, the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere stood at 316 parts per million (ppm). Now, nearly 52 years later, the carbon dioxide concentration in the atmosphere has reached 400 ppm. I can’t see it, taste it, or feel it but through the power of science I know it is there and still rising. The evidence is unequivocal that this increase is due to our burning of fossil fuels. It is strange to think that because of this vast uncontrolled experiment we are conducting with the earth’s atmosphere the world into which I was born, in a certain sense, no longer exists.

Annual Climate Science Day: Scientific Thought Leaders Unite
To raise awareness among US politicians and policy-makers about climate change and the impacts of unrestricted carbon dioxide emissions, 14 scientific societies have joined forces to hold an annual Climate Science Day on Capitol Hill in Washington DC. Now in its 4^th year, about 40 scientists fanned out across Capitol Hill on January 29^th 2014 to meet lawmakers and their staffs to discuss climate science and to offer themselves as resources about the science of climate change. This year I had the privilege of representing the American Society of Plant Biologists (ASPB) on Climate Science Day. Continue reading →

March 20, 2014March 20, 2014 by Ellie Johnston Categories: Team and communityTags: Capitol Hill, Climate Bathtub, climate change, climate science, climate science day, Dr. Max Moehs, US Congress Leave a comment

Now hiring – International Climate Change Adaptation Modeler

Climate Interactive is looking for a new team member – a Senior Modeler to work in the growing area of International Adaptation and Resilience. CI is currently engaged in projects in Kenya and the Horn of Africa, and is beginning work in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Nigeria, and possibly other regions of the world.

Job Description – Senior Adaptation Modeler (PDF)

To submit an application: climateinteractive.org/job

March 18, 2014March 20, 2014 by smccauley Categories: Uncategorized Leave a comment

Global Effort to Spread Climate Negotiation Simulations Takes Off

As the U.N. climate negotiations steadily tick toward their deadline of releasing a new agreement in 2015, a global effort led by young people to have their voices heard and taken seriously in the negotiations is spreading worldwide. The initiative, COP in MyCity, is using Climate Interactive’s World Climate Exercise as the basis of their campaign to help young people understand the negotiations and set their priorities for the global outcome.

Already, they have held 46 events worldwide with over 1300 people participating in places ranging from Paris to Kathmandu to Accra. Climate Interactive first developed the World Climate Exercise in 2009. Since then, people have used the simulation in a wide range of settings, from Fortune 500 companies to Austrian middle schools. This is the first time, however, that we know of an effort to use World Climate with such a widespread global impact. Continue reading →

March 10, 2014March 12, 2014 by Ellie Johnston Categories: Policy exercises and serious gamesTags: climate negotiation simulation, CliMates, COP in MyCity, model UN, simulations, UNFCCC, World Climate, World Climate Exercise Leave a comment

Top Ten Reasons the World Needs EnROADS — a Fast, Accessible, Free, Hands-On Global Climate and Energy Simulator

By Drew Jones, Climate Interactive Co-Director

1. Grounded hope. For climate action success, we need a scientifically based narrative of what to do. EnROADS helps anyone (not just modelers) create such a narrative.

Counterintuitive Climate Strategy: See The Solution In Order to Even See the Problem — Stanford students practicing “grounded hope”

2. Policy-makers are using it. Jonathan Pershing of the U.S. Department of Energy has asked for specific features and scenarios.

3. A complement to existing scientific models. Prof. John Weyant of Stanford University is the chair of the EnROADS external review committee. We want this simulation to complement the existing suite of research models.

Continue reading →

February 26, 2014March 19, 2014 by davidpedigo Categories: Project newsTags: climate simulation, ClimateWorks, Drew Jones, EnROADS, hope, John Weyant, Lisa Downey, Miriam Maes, Morgan Family Foundation, optimism, simulation, system dynamics, Zennstrom Philanthropies Leave a comment

Climate Interactive in the UK: Building grounded hope on climate solutions

“The workshop enabled participants to visualize how the various approaches and solutions interact and impact climate outcomes. Some of the conclusions challenged received wisdom and intuition.”

– Workshop Participant

In the latest leg of our campaign to build understanding of climate change solutions, Climate Interactive Co-Director Drew Jones traveled to London to engage leaders with our simulations at an event organized by the German Marshall Fund and hosted by the U.K.’s Green Investment Bank.

Grounded optimism shows us that reducing climate risk is "doable." — Grounded hope shows us that reducing climate risk is “doable.”

In our first exercise with U.K. policymakers, the team of Drew Jones, Miriam Maes and Alissa Burger used our interactive climate and energy models—C-ROADS and En-ROADS—to spread “grounded hope.” Continue reading →

February 13, 2014March 19, 2014 by davidpedigo Categories: Analysis, Insights, Policy exercises and serious games, ToolsTags: Britain, C-ROADS, climate change, Drew Jones, En-ROADS, England, hope, London, optimism, policymakers, Solutions, UK, United Kingdom 1 Comment

World Climate in French: An Integrative and Multidisciplinary Approach

“Look, they only gave us cake crumb, we won’t give anything to the other countries!”

-a student, just before the negotiation starts

Our friend Laurent Richard, a mathematics teacher at the International School of Boston, saw transformative results after running our World Climate Exercise with his students in French. Here’s what he had to say (for the French version, see the bottom of the page):

On January 22^nd2013, upper school teachers from the International School of Boston (ISB) gathered in the hall of the Orthodox church in Arlington, MA, which the school has the benefit of using for its theater lessons and events.

For three hours, with the help of Travis Franck from Climate Interactive, teachers from every discipline experienced for the first time the negotiation role game, World Climate. They considered it a very enlightening simulation that enabled them to get what makes World Climate such a compelling tool for exploring the complexity of the climate change issue. Some of the themes they delved into included: Continue reading →

January 24, 2014January 27, 2014 by davidpedigo Categories: Insights, Resources, Team and community, ToolsTags: Boston, Climate Negotiation, French, International, serious games, World Climate 2 Comments

Systems Thinking and Business Solutions in a Complex World

Photo by MIT Sloan Sustainability Management

In the latest entry in the Network for Business Sustainability blog, Climate Interactive Member and MIT Professor John Sterman outlines how we can use systems thinking – the analytical approach that underlies Climate Interactive’s models — to solve some of the world’s most complex problems.

Although his suggestions focus on businesses, these strategies can be used by government organizations, NGOs and individuals as well. Here’s what he had to say:

From climate change and deforestation to collapsing fisheries, species extinction and poisons in our food and water, our society is unsustainable and it is getting worse fast. Many advocate that overcoming these problems requires the development of systems thinking. We’ve long known that we live on a finite “spaceship Earth” in which “there is no away” and “everything is connected to everything else.” The challenge lies in moving from slogans about systems to meaningful methods to understand complexity, facilitate individual and organizational learning, and catalyze the changes we need to create a sustainable society in which all can thrive.

Here, I’ll describe how the world operates as a system — and how businesses can respond effectively to the challenges we face. Continue reading →

December 3, 2013December 19, 2013 by davidpedigo Categories: Analysis, Insights, Media coverage, Team and communityTags: climate change, Climate Interactive, Environment, john sterman, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, MIT, Network for Business Sustainability, systems thinking, United States Leave a comment

John Sterman on the Power of Simulations

At a recent MIT conference, Climate Interactive member Prof. John Sterman provided an inspiring analysis of the relationship between big data, climate models and climate change action.

Climate Interactive team member, Prof. John Sterman

As we see data and models become more advanced and more available, we’re only really reaching the first step toward solving the problem of climate change. The real challenge that we’re facing, Sterman said, is communicating all this information so that it teaches and inspires people to pursue the appropriate solutions.

“The burden is on us,” he said. “People are solving problems—data doesn’t solve problems [and] information doesn’t solve problems.” Continue reading →

November 26, 2013November 27, 2013 by davidpedigo Categories: Analysis, Insights, ToolsTags: C-ROADS, China, Climate, climate change, Climate Interactive, climate model, john sterman, Shandong, Shenzhen, World Climate, World Climate Exercise 1 Comment

Using Simulations to Transform Climate Education

Students presenting during a World Climate Exercise

With funding from the U.S. National Science Foundation, the UMass Lowell Climate Change Initiative and Climate Interactive are partnering to bring transformative climate change education tools to educators and students. Our newly launched project uses simulation role-playing games to put students in the shoes of decision makers, navigating complex social systems while making climate and energy decisions framed by Climate Interactive’s accessible, transparent, and rigorous simulations. Tools, like the World Climate Exercise, offer students an opportunity to find out, in real time, how the climate and energy systems are likely to respond to technological advances, policy interventions, economic and demographic trends, changes in climate-Earth system feedbacks and more. Continue reading →

November 18, 2013December 2, 2013 by Ellie Johnston Categories: Project newsTags: climate change education, climate simulation, Juliette Rooney-Varga, UN simulation, World Climate Exercise Leave a comment

Counterintuitive Climate Strategy: See The Solution In Order to Even See the Problem

By Drew Jones, Climate Interactive Co-Director

How can we build political will to take responsibility for climate?

It is time to invest in grounded hope.

We should inoculate the world with an attractive, rigorous, comprehensive path toward climate success, as a means of helping people see and own the climate challenge in the first place.

I think we need to see the solution in order to see the problem.

Sounds backwards, right?

We’ve flipped the cause-and-effect for too long. We’ve mostly been saying (think “An Inconvenient Truth”), “climate disruption is a huge problem. So let’s solve it. Every small action counts.”

But it isn’t working. Too many people think, “it’s an overwhelming problem without a clear solution. I give up.”

We’ve seen the alternative work first hand. Over the past year, I’ve facilitated large groups of Stanford graduate students, international energy execs, a climate-and-business advisory panel in Washington, D.C. and others, and asked them to chart out viable solution paths and then see the impacts immediately in our simulators En-ROADS and C-ROADS.

They dream, grieve, learn, dream again, then emerge a bit readier to take responsibility for the problem, roll up their sleeves and try something a bit more ambitious. As Gerard Moutet of the French oil company Total said, “It now seems challenging but possible.”

Challenging but possible. Grounded hope. Continue reading →

November 8, 2013March 19, 2014 by davidpedigo Categories: AnalysisTags: Andrew Jones, C-ROADS, climate change, Climate Interactive, climate simulation, Drew Jones, En-ROADS, hope, optimism 4 Comments