En-ROADS is fun (and sad) to explore. Spoiler alert: The scale of the combined actions required to keep warm below 1.5 degrees Celsius quickly became apparent. There is no single solution. Users can enter any combination of scenarios, from pricing carbon to reducing deforestation for electric vehicles to ending fossil fuel subsidies, and instantly visualize how those solutions impact. to outcomes such as future warming and sea level rise.
Not quite keeping the temperature rise below 1.5 degrees Celsius, or even 2 degrees Celsius? Try again, except swap out electric vehicles for highly subsidized renewable energy or reduce economic or population growth. En-ROADS shows which policies and strategies are likely to have the greatest impact. Run simulations yourself, tweak climate strategies or throw a party and invite your friends over to debate which strategy global leaders should prioritize while you scream in the conversation. real-world commentary on the news.
With En-ROADS you can visualize the amount of land lost in sea level rise and explore the global flood risk map. You can identify which species are losing their range due to climate change and where. You can calculate an estimated decrease in crop yield or an increased number of tree deaths due to higher temperatures. This has important implications in areas that have never needed air conditioning before and are witnessing record number of deaths due to heat, such as the Pacific Northwest and British Columbia.
Immerse yourself in your very own UN Climate Summit
If you are more interested in the nuances of climate justice and high-stakes negotiations, check out C-ROADS. Individuals can run simulation online, but it’s more fun when play the role of a simulated UN climate summit. Climate Interactive provides supporting resources and archival materials. Teams can represent developed and developing countries in broad categories, or if you have more players you can play the six-region game and represent the US, European Union , China, India, other developed countries and other developing countries. You can also add representatives from climate activists, fossil fuel lobbyists, press teams, and the American Climate Coalition.
My undergraduates participate in UN climate negotiations to help them understand the complexities of real-world negotiations and better understand the impacts of actions. possible climate. Student groups are provided with guidance on the actual climate or financial impacts facing their respective countries or stakeholder groups and what they need from the negotiations, and are also informed. tasked with proposing climate solutions that their team is willing to implement.
To make the role play more realistic, students representing low-lying island nations were asked to sit on the floor at the back of the room while students represented wealthy business groups or developed countries. The development is arranged higher with plush chairs, snacks and special treatment at the top of the class.
It is inspiring to see my students embrace their designated country or stakeholder group. They will have secret conversations in the hallways, bribe other groups, passionately make their case in front of the whole class, do whatever they can to defend their proposal or urgency. of their situation. Some have chosen to leave the negotiations. I entered their recommendations into the C-ROADS climate simulator, and it immediately calculates whether the recommendations are enough to keep warming below 1.5 degrees or 2 degrees Celsius. accumulating commitments to not keep the temperature below 2 degrees Celsius (which they always do), the students representing the island nations were covered with a tarp to represent their uninhabited islands due to sea level rise.
