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Climate change questions answered in new online videos

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Tasmanians curious about climate change can find answers to their most pressing questions in a series of new videos arising from public meetings held around the State last year.

The Curious Climate Tasmania project held four events as part of National Science Week in August 2019, with scientists answering questions posed online and by attendees in Queenstown, St Helens, Launceston and Hobart.

The most challenging, popular and interesting answers were videoed and can now be viewed on the Curious Climate website.

Project co-lead Professor Gretta Pecl said the videos are specifically tailored for Tasmanian audiences, addressing both local and global impacts and changes.

“Tasmania is fortunate to be home to dozens of world-class scientists and researchers who are working on climate change,” Professor Pecl said.

“We wanted to give people the opportunity to tap into that local expertise and have their climate change questions answered.

“Rather than us turning up and talking about what we thought was important, we put out a call for questions and had a fantastic response from around the State.”

Professor Pecl said more than 200 climate-related questions were posed online through a collaboration with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and many more at the face-to-face meetings, which attracted vocal and engaged audiences.

“The local issues covered in the videos include what climate extremes Tasmania can expect, how sea level rise may affect the State, and how local food production might change.

“On a more global scale, the videos also address questions about what’s causing climate change, what we can do about it, worldwide climate impacts, and even how to communicate with people who don’t accept the science.

“There are many different sources of interesting and reliable information about climate change, but the difference with Curious Climate is that we asked Tasmanians what they wanted to know.

“We hope that by providing the answers at the face-to-face meetings and now through our online videos we can dispel some myths and help people to better understand what’s happening and why,” Professor Pecl said.

The Curious Climate Tasmania project is led by the University’s Centre for Marine Socioecology in partnership with ABC Hobart and in collaboration with IMAS, the Tasmanian Institute of Agriculture, and CSIRO.

Funded by a National Science Week grant, with support from the Tasmanian Climate Change Office, the project aims to develop engaging, public-powered science communication, bridging the gap between experts and audiences on a controversial topic with credible and relevant information.

The videos can be found at https://curiousclimate.org.au/

Image: The Launceston Curious Climate meeting. Credit: Greta Pecl.