Paper short abstract:

Between 2000-2003, Ethos developed a widely used virtual reality visualisation tool for the environmental impact of climate change, adaptation and mitigation strategies. The tool has a user interface allowing different strategies and their impacts to be compared.

Paper long abstract:

In 2001, the Countryside Agency commissioned Ethos to develop a visualisation tool that would be useful for its Community Renewables Initiative with regard to both the impact of climate change - such as sea level rise, and the environmental consequences of different strategies of mitigation and adaptation. A 3D model was developed by Ethos that would allow planners to approach visual impact from different angles and for strategy discussions to look at different technologies, such as wind, biomass and solar, and their implications for landscape, community and biodiversity. An interactive multi-media pack was distributed to all the Countryside Agency offices and a seminar given to an Inter-Agency meeting on climate change in 2003. The production of a variety of responses to climate change and the inclusion of a 'cold futures' scenario led to lively debate on the merits of linear computer projections, the incorporation of natural cycles or potential tipping points, such as changes in warm-water circulation in the North Atlantic. The tool has the potential for local communities to model their own regional environment and policy responses, perhaps involving local 6th forms in computer visualisation, climate dialogues and local issues.