Climate Change has been described as Code Red for Humanity. We are at risk of tipping the climate system out of control. The scale and pace of human action to avoid the most serious consequences is falling far short of what is needed. Despite the investment of huge sums on the means to characterize, understand and predict the state of the climate system, efforts to deliver such information to society are only partly successful. Many institutions, communities of practice, and communities of place are stuck, not knowing how to act. The UCL Climate Action Unit (CAU) draws on the insights of the mind sciences to intervene with bespoke, facilitated dialogue to help such groups discover and execute their ‘agency’ to act. The speaker will explain the barriers that people face in dealing with climate change, and describe how the UCL works with groups from across society to overcomes these.
Chris Rapley CBE is Professor of Climate Science at University College London. He is Chair of the Advisory Board of the UCL Climate Action Unit. He was previously Director of the Science Museum from 2007 to 2010, and Director of the British Antarctic Survey from 1998 to 2007. In 2008 he was awarded the Edinburgh Science Medal – “For professional achievements judged to have made a significant contribution to the understanding and wellbeing of humanity”. Since 2019 Chris has been the Chair of the European Science Foundation’s European Space Sciences Committee.
Webinar was recorded on June 23, 2022