Project
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The 2°C target in the Alps - An Experience in Virtual Reality
English title |
The 2°C target in the Alps - An Experience in Virtual Reality |
Applicant |
Hoelzle Martin
|
Number |
178628 |
Funding scheme |
Agora
|
Research institution |
Département des Géosciences Université de Fribourg
|
Institution of higher education |
University of Fribourg - FR |
Main discipline |
Hydrology, Limnology, Glaciology |
Start/End |
01.05.2018 - 31.07.2020 |
Approved amount |
205'758.50 |
Show all
Keywords (9)
Permafrost; Alpine Environment; Sustainability; Climate change communication; Visualization; Virtual Reality; Glacier; Scientainment; Education and Mediation
Lay Summary (German)
Lead
|
Wie werden die Auswirkungen einer Temperaturzunahme um 2°C im Hochgebirge verständlich? Im Projekt 2°C-VR erleben Sekundarschüler mittels einer Virtual Reality (VR) Experience Szenarien einer zukünftigen Welt über bzw. unter dem 2°C-Ziel. Die emotionale VR-Erfahrung und die Möglichkeiten der Interaktion sowie des Dialogs sollen zeigen, dass jeder einzelne, durch Änderung des persönlichen Verhaltens oder politischen Aktivismus, einen Beitrag leisten kann, um unter dem 2°C-Ziel zu bleiben. Darüber hinaus wird das Publikum verstehen, dass zur Bekämpfung des Klimawandels eine kollektive Anstrengung erforderlich ist, die eine sozial-ökologische Transformation der Gesellschaft erfordert.
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Lay summary
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Seit der industriellen Revolution hat der anthropogene Ausstoss von Treibhausgasen das Klima drastisch verändert und die globalen Temperaturen sind stark angestiegen. Mit dem 2°C-Ziel hat die internationale Politik ein rechtlich bindendes Abkommen verabschiedet mit dem Zweck, den globalen Anstieg der Temperaturen auf deutlich weniger als 2°C zu begrenzen. Dieses Ziel ist einfach formuliert, aber für die meisten Menschen schwer zu erfassen. Die Auswirkungen des Klimawandels und des 2°C-Ziels werden in einer Wanderausstellung (im Nationalparkzentrum Zernez und im World Natur Forum Naters) für die Besucher erlebbar gemacht. Dank hoch aufgelöster Geodaten und einer professionellen Game-Umgebung können die Benutzer in eine überzeugende Rekonstruktion der alpinen Umgebung versetzt werden. Die Gletscherschmelze und die damit einhergehenden Veränderung der gesamten alpinen Umgebung kann im Zeitraffer emotional und realitätsnah miterlebt, interaktiv gesteuert und durch cleveres Verhalten gebremst werden. Die ausgelösten Emotionen führen nicht unbedingt zu nachhaltigen Verhaltensänderungen. Daher wird die VR-Erfahrung mit einem Raum für den Dialog über Ursachen und Handlungsmöglichkeiten kombiniert.
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Responsible applicant and co-applicants
Employees
Project partner
Collaboration
Cryospheric Commission (EKK, Expertenkommission für Kryosphäre) |
Switzerland (Europe) |
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- in-depth/constructive exchanges on approaches, methods or results |
UZH (Departement of Geography) GLAMOS/PERMOS |
Switzerland (Europe) |
|
- in-depth/constructive exchanges on approaches, methods or results - Publication - Exchange of personnel |
Federal Office of Environment (BAFU, Bundeamt für Umwelt) |
Switzerland (Europe) |
|
- in-depth/constructive exchanges on approaches, methods or results |
World Glacier Monitoring Service (WGMS) |
Switzerland (Europe) |
|
- in-depth/constructive exchanges on approaches, methods or results |
Gletschergarten, Luzern |
Switzerland (Europe) |
|
- in-depth/constructive exchanges on approaches, methods or results - Research Infrastructure |
swisstopo |
Switzerland (Europe) |
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- in-depth/constructive exchanges on approaches, methods or results |
Eclim research group |
Switzerland (Europe) |
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- in-depth/constructive exchanges on approaches, methods or results - Publication |
Swiss Academy of Natural Sciences (SCNAT) |
Switzerland (Europe) |
|
- in-depth/constructive exchanges on approaches, methods or results |
Nationalparkzentrum, Zernez |
Switzerland (Europe) |
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- in-depth/constructive exchanges on approaches, methods or results - Research Infrastructure - Exchange of personnel |
ETH (Versuchsanstalt für Wasserbau, Hydrologie und Glaziologie) and GLAMOS office |
Switzerland (Europe) |
|
- in-depth/constructive exchanges on approaches, methods or results |
Academia Engiadina |
Switzerland (Europe) |
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- in-depth/constructive exchanges on approaches, methods or results - Research Infrastructure - Exchange of personnel |
PERMOS office |
Switzerland (Europe) |
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- in-depth/constructive exchanges on approaches, methods or results - Publication |
Fachdidaktik Umweltlehre ETH Zürich |
Switzerland (Europe) |
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- in-depth/constructive exchanges on approaches, methods or results - Publication - Exchange of personnel |
Alpines Museum, Bern |
Switzerland (Europe) |
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- in-depth/constructive exchanges on approaches, methods or results - Research Infrastructure |
World Nature Forum, Naters |
Switzerland (Europe) |
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- in-depth/constructive exchanges on approaches, methods or results - Research Infrastructure - Exchange of personnel |
Communication with the public
Communication |
Title |
Media |
Place |
Year |
Media relations: print media, online media
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Die Schweiz ohne Eis
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Coop Zeitung
|
German-speaking Switzerland
|
2019
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Media relations: print media, online media
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Expedition Klimawandel
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Engadiner Post
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German-speaking Switzerland Rhaeto-Romanic Switzerland
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2019
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Media relations: radio, television
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Interview zur Expedition 2 Grad
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SRF 1, Regionaljournal Ostschweiz
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Rhaeto-Romanic Switzerland German-speaking Switzerland
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2019
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Media relations: print media, online media
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Medienbeiträge zur "Expedition 2 Grad"
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verschiedene Medienbeiträge erschienen im Zusammenhang mit der Eröffnung der Ausstellung
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German-speaking Switzerland Western Switzerland Italian-speaking Switzerland Rhaeto-Romanic Switzerland
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2019
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New media (web, blogs, podcasts, news feeds etc.)
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Project Homepage
|
|
German-speaking Switzerland
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2019
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Media relations: radio, television
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Tagesschau
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SRF 1
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German-speaking Switzerland
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2019
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Media relations: print media, online media
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Träge Zungen
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UZH-Magazin
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German-speaking Switzerland
|
2019
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Media relations: radio, television
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Wissenschaftsmagazin
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Radio SRF 1
|
German-speaking Switzerland
|
2019
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Associated projects
Number |
Title |
Start |
Funding scheme |
121868
|
Mountain Cryosphere Subgrid Parameterization and Computation (CRYOSUB) |
01.05.2009 |
Project funding |
137586
|
New monitoring techniques for understanding the response of very small glaciers to climate change |
01.03.2012 |
Project funding |
135531
|
Influences of the snow cover on thermal and mechanical processes in steep permafrost Rockwalls |
01.05.2012 |
Project funding |
105214
|
Alpine-wide distributed glacier mass balance modelling for assessment of climate change effects and precipitation in high-mountain regions with application to palaeoclimate reconstruction |
01.10.2004 |
Project funding |
134768
|
Helicopter-borne GPR for mapping snow accumulation distribution |
01.04.2011 |
Project funding |
107963
|
Frozen rock walls and climate change: transient 3-dimensional investigation of permafrost degradation |
01.04.2005 |
Project funding |
136279
|
The evolution of mountain permafrost in Switzerland |
01.11.2011 |
Sinergia |
208342
|
The Ice Age Machine |
01.07.2022 |
Agora |
Abstract
This AGORA project aims to make climate change tangible and produce an emotional involvement by means of Virtual Reality (VR). A VR-Experience will simulate the alpine environment to let the target audience, mainly young people, experience scenarios of a future world at and beyond the 2°C target. The VR-Experience and the possibility of interaction will demonstrate that every individual can contribute by changing personal behaviour and political activism. In addition, the audience will come to understand that a collective effort is required to control climate change. Users will learn that a social-ecological transformation is needed for a sustainable future with a more stable climate, a transformation that requires public debate and political consciousness.Since the Industrial Revolution, anthropogenic emissions of greenhouse gases, has changed the climate drastically and global temperatures have risen sharply. At the climate conference COP21 in Paris, in December 2015, the United Nations agreed on the 2°C target, to limit the maximum temperature increase well below 2°C. The goal is easy to formulate, but what does it mean? For the most people an average increase of 2°C in global temperature is hard to grasp.Even with a limited increase of 2°C, serious impacts are expected worldwide (e.g. Sea level rise, droughts, floods). By staying below 2°C, however, there is at least the chance that the Earth’s system dynamics would remain largely intact and gives society the ability to react and adapt. Should the global average temperature increase reach 3-5°C, it would seriously harm the ecosystem, altering the planet in extreme and unprecedented ways. The alpine environment, with its high sensitivity to changes in air temperature, provides an ideal environment to visualize such changes. Scientific knowledge on climate change has rapidly accumulated over the past decade and we are now able to communicate the economic, social and ecological impacts of rising temperature on the alpine environment as a whole.The main objective of the 2°C-VR project is to let the target audience interactively experience the impacts of climate change in VR. This new medium allows to view past, current and future alpine environments and to experience expected changes. Current research in climate change communication shows clearly that emotional involvement alone has its limits and does not necessarily lead to long-term sustainable actions. A better approach is to combine emotional involvement with a space for debate about the causes and possible actions to take. Therefore, we will base our communication strategy on a combination of the VR-Experience and the development of opportunities for action.VR technology will allow us to integrate different forms of scientific knowledge and communicate very complex processes in an easily understandable manner. The impacts of different climate change scenarios will enable an emotional, individual and unique experience. The interactive set-up of the installations will create the sense of being dependent upon each other’s’ actions and transmit the idea that only a collective effort of all individuals within a society can address the root causes of climate change. Later, school classes can debate and reflect on their experiences and on future actions. A web platform will provide a 360° video of the virtual experience and material for classroom discussion after the museum visit. Hyperlinks will lead students to other websites describing concrete actions for a sustainable way of living.For the development and the implementation of the VR-Experience, we commit to a close partnership with two museums, the World Nature Forum (UNESCO World Heritage Swiss Alps Jungfrau-Aletsch) in Naters and the visitor centre of the Swiss National Park in Zernez. The project team consists of the group "Alpine Cryosphere and Geomorphology" from the Department of Geosciences at the University of Fribourg, which is responsible for the scientific content, the communication concept and the project management, the discipline "Knowledge Visualization" at the Zurich University of the Arts, which develops and creates the Virtual Reality experience, and the College of Education Grisons, which is responsible for pedagogical implementation and project evaluation. The project is supported by a broad coalition of institutions and partners (BAFU, EKK, SCNAT, ETH, UZH, GLAMOS, PERMOS, WGMS, Eclim, swisstopo) and other museums (Gletschergarten Luzern, Alpines Museum Bern). At the end of the project, the know-how, installations and VR-Experiences may be used not only for education and mediation in schools and museums, but also for showing to decision makers and the general public.
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