MapMyClimate – between Science, Education & People

Abstract

These days the awareness of climate change is growing. This awareness is nursed by the gradual change in weather conditions experienced worldwide and not least as the result of the COP15 summit in Copenhagen. However, still there seems to be a wide knowledge gap between what science predicts and what common people know and understand.
The MapMyClimate vision is to reduce that gap by making you - as the user - understand how your daily behavior affects the climate, which effects you will experience and further illustrate how you - as part of the community - can act to prevent or reduce some of the climate changes.
The concept is based on detailed visualizations and interactive tools. The starting point is a virtual world where you can move from place to place, combining different climate or environmental scenarios, investigate effects based on your daily choice of living, participate in blogs and share experiences and ideas.
MapMyClimate was originally developed as a communication platform between science and the common citizen, but recently, and with success, primary school kids have tested MapMyClimate as part of their mutual climate understanding. This paper focuses on the MapMyClimate case-story and describes the vision and the solution behind MapMyClimate and further discusses the experience gained from applying it in primary school teaching.