Climate change and sustainable development – Public awareness measure with climate simulator En-ROADS

Abstract

Our climate and environment are rapidly changing every day, and the massive impacts happening for these changes are clearly visible. However, a severe issue like climate change is neglected in many phases of society which needs more focus and concentration. Perception of people changes when they see things with data or graphs mostly, which provides a significant scenario to understand a situation. The climate simulator En-ROADS is the perfect source to be enriched with the knowledge of climate change. This thesis research investigates the public awareness regarding the issues, causes, and impacts of climate change by using the climate simulator En-ROADS. The surveys were conducted with 50 participants from around the world with various backgrounds to understand their knowledge about climate change, and how it changes after using the climate simulator En-ROADS. The result analysis showed a strong shift of change in the perception of the participants after using En-ROADS. A high percentage of concerns were generated in favor of climate-related issues which showed a significant solution to increase awareness with the use of the simulator. The research concluded that a climate simulator is a much-needed tool for developing solutions for climate issues, and we need to use the climate simulator En-ROADS to raise public awareness about climate change.