Is AR the key to making climate science understandable for everyone?

In early 2024, Imvizar, founded by Michael Guerin and Adele Keane in 2021, collaborated with Grant Thornton in Ireland on an innovative augmented reality project. This initiative aimed to expose the environmental damage caused by plastic waste, particularly focusing on the pervasive issue of coffee cups in Irish society. The project emphasizes how even minor behavioral adjustments, such as reducing coffee cup usage by just one per week, can significantly mitigate waste accumulation and carbon emissions. By visually demonstrating the hollowness of landfills filled with over 100,000 coffee cups saved, the installation sought to make the concept of sustainability more relatable and actionable. Áine Keogh, the head of sustainability at Grant Thornton Ireland, articulated the importance of using engaging narratives for environmental issues. She believes that incorporating augmented reality allows for a more personalized experience that can effectively ignite people’s interest towards sustainability initiatives. The collaboration focused on creating a unique storytelling approach by integrating audio and visuals to boost emotional connections with the audience. This method serves as a bridge for conveying complex sustainability concepts, reinforcing the notion that individual actions contribute to broader climate solutions. While augmented reality for storytelling isn’t yet commonplace, the success of this project showcases its potential impact on environmental communication. Guerin highlighted the challenges associated with conveying abstract sustainability topics in ways that resonate with non-specialist audiences. By facilitating interactive engagement, the project demonstrated that people are more likely to act on environmental issues when they see their personal contributions in a larger context of change. Additionally, there are emerging examples of augmented reality applications in scientific education, including a recent effort by the University of Freiburg in Germany. Their ‘XR Future Forest Lab’ aims to utilize mixed reality technologies to visualize forestry and environmental data, allowing students and researchers to simulate potential changes in forest ecosystems. This parallels the academic work done by Tyler Ard at the University of Southern California, who developed the Schol-AR app to enhance the communication of scientific texts in a dynamic format. Such advancements indicate a growing recognition of the need for innovative communication methods within both scientific and environmental discourse.