How to show climate change

Can virtual reality help us understand our climate reality?

Could virtual reality (VR) — immersive digital experiences that mimic reality — save the environment? That may be a bit of a stretch. But researchers say that it could perhaps promote better understanding of nature and give people empathetic insight into environmental challenges. “Virtual reality can give everyone, regardless of where they live, the kind of experience needed to generate the urgency required to prevent environmental calamity,” said Jeremy Bailenson, professor of communication at Stanford University. Bailenson’s Virtual Human Interaction Lab (VHIL) this year released a short VR documentary and an interactive VR game that seek to explain the issue of ocean acidification, the process by which excess carbon dioxide in the atmosphere dissolves in the ocean, making it more acidic and less healthy for ocean life. ….[READ]