Virtual Water Futures
The Project
One of the biggest barriers to adopting pro-environmental beliefs and actions is that many of the worst effects of climate change, including flooding and shoreline erosion, is happening in geographically distant places and/or will not happen for several decades. If you cannot see and feel what will happen, it's difficult to imagine it happening in your own town!
The goal of the current project is to harness the power of augmented reality to bring climate change home.
The Experience
Using climate models and flood mapping, we are developing future scenarios for lakeshore and inland flooding at iconic locations in Niagara to show what these locations will look like in 30 and 50 years if no changes are made to the ways in which we manage water.
Participants will be directed to a specific location where they will view their surroundings with a smartphone app. Using augmented reality, participants will be able to see - in real time - the devastating effects of shoreline and inland flooding, erosion, and storm surge on beloved Niagara landscapes.
The Goal
By having participants immerse themselves in a future landscape, our goal is two-fold. First, we expect that experiencing a flooding event in a familiar landscape will foster empathy for both current victims of our changing climate, as well as future users of these iconic locations. Second, we hope that by bringing the effects of climate change directly to residents, we can begin to change attitudes, beliefs, and actions towards the environment.
The Team
This SSHRC Insight Grant-funded project brings together a team of researchers, students, creative partners, and community organizations. At the core is a research group at Brock University led by Dr. Julia Baird, with collaborators Dr. Jessica Blythe, Dr. Gary Pickering, Dr. Marilyne Carrey, Dr. Gillian Dale, Dr. Elson Galang (McGill/Dalhousie), PhD candidate Hannah Lubker, and MSc candidate Alicia Rauth. . Climate modelling will be undertaken by Dr. Scott Steinschneider and Dr. Sungwook Wi (Cornell).
We’ve partnered with Stitch Media, a digital storytelling company, and Dr. Jeremy Leipert, coordinator for the Digital Humanities department at Brock, to design the AR experience, and we’re working closely with the City of St Catharines, the Niagara Parks Commission, and Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority to ground the project in local landscapes and community priorities.