Keeling Curve

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Project Summary / Description:

Climate Solutions and our Planetary Boundaries are two of a large set of trusted climate education resources, guided by the King's Centre for Visualization in Science (KCVS), which creates interactive learning resources used by a half-million members of the education community and the public from 100  countries each year. A comprehensive suite of climate change education resources was created as a legacy of the 2011 International Year of Chemistry and an interactive planetary boundaries resource is a legacy project of the 2022-2023 International Year of Basic Sciences for Sustainable Development. Work is carried out with global partners in science and education under the guidance of the KCVS director Mahaffy, a visionary thought-leader in the area of science education and sustainability.

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The immensity of the greenhouse gas (GHG) mitigation required to achieve the goals of the Paris Accord often paralyzes action. Meaningful GHG reduction requires social tipping interventions (Otto, Rockström et al., Proc Natl Acad Sci., 2020) that integrate technologies and strategies into technical, social and political systems, rather than relying entirely on individual actions. The PNAS authors identify six social tipping elements (STEs) that can “activate contagious and fast-spreading processes of social and technological change within the next few years.” Our Climate Solutions project’s core contribution to achieving a social climate action tipping point focuses on STE5 – strengthening climate education and engagement, which is an entry point into and supports each of the other five STEs. 
The Climate Solutions project is coordinated by the award-winning King’s Centre for Visualization in Science (KCVS), which uses a systems-oriented approach to create and freely disseminate rigorously peer reviewed interactive climate science and climate action learning tools. To accelerate social tipping points, we will focus in the two  years leading up to and including the 2022 UNESCO International Year of Basic Sciences for Development (IYBSD) on leveraging and providing further supports for our web-based climate education tools, which are already widely used around the world. Analysis (Cordero, et al., PLoS One 15(2) 2020) shows that targeted climate change education can be as effective as many new technologies in helping people reduce emissions.
Transformational change requires systems thinking (ST) and the use of ST tools to create contagious and fast-spreading outcomes. Yet formal educational systems typically focus on parts rather than the whole—and those systems often strongly resist change. Project lead Mahaffy also co-leads an International Union of Pure & Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) project team of thought leaders from around the world who are reimagining chemistry education, moving from fragmented presentation of content toward wholistic systems approaches that better address global challenges such as climate change. Insights from the IUPAC systems thinking initiative inform the Climate Solutions project. In short, we seek to accelerate climate action by facilitating widespread and wholistic climate literacy among STEM students. (Background on IUPAC initiative found in Section 18)  
Our approach to global dissemination of resources will be informed by the outcomes of UNESCO’s Futures of Education initiative, which is rethinking the role of education in light of the tremendous challenges and opportunities of predicted, possible, and preferred futures.

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Impact on Underrepresented Groups:

The King‚ University is fully supportive of the Canadian Federal government Tri-Council granting agencies initiatives to achieve a more equitable, diverse, and inclusive (EDI) Canadian research enterprise. KCVS follow EDI best practices in all aspects of our work from hiring practices, work environment and training, to selection of visualization challenges. In addition, the project lead, Mahaffy, is a co-investigator on another project funded by Canada‚ Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) that investigates how systems thinking with respect to climate change education can directly support equity, diversity, and inclusion. Relevant to our current climate solutions project is the U.N. estimate that 80% of those who have been displaced by climate change are women, who, as primary care givers in families and communities are more vulnerable to many of the effects of climate change. And so particular attention is given in our educational resources to empower women to be agents of change in mitigating greenhouse gases and adapting to impacts, so as to reduce suffering. One of the concrete ways this is achieved is by equipping students to use the resources to engage with people within their spheres of influence, especially including their parents.

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Mission Statement:

The King's Centre for Visualization in Science is a research centre of The King's University, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada committed to improving the global public understanding of science through research and the creation and dissemination of peer-reviewed interactive electronic learning tools to see and understand science. Astrophysicist Brian Martin and Chemist Peter Mahaffy founded the centre in 2005 as a legacy of the NSERC Centres for Research in Youth Science Teaching Learning (CRYSTAL-Alberta) program. Peter Mahaffy is the current director. The work of the centre is carried out with regional, national, and international partners. The King's Centre for Visualization in Science is energized by the talent and enthusiasm of a creative interdisciplinary team of undergraduate students and faculty collaborators!

The King’s Centre for Visualization in Science respectfully acknowledges that we are located on Treaty 6 territory, traditional lands of First Nations and Metis people. In our work to help learners see and understand science, we seek reconciliation both with the diverse indigenous people who made and make their homes here and with the earth that supports and nourishes life.

Link: Twitter:

@petermahaffy