What is ClimateScape?

ClimateScape is a kinetic art installation using sound and movement.

Climate change is happening. Some think we've already gone too far.

We need to make a concentrated effort to about face immediately. A dramatic shift on current climate policy and swift action is no longer an option, it is mandatory. The time is now and it may be running out, if it hasn't already.

ClimateScape is about bringing awareness to the human effect and how we are affecting climate change. The four soundscape sculptures represent 4 potential climate change scenarios known as Representative Concentration Pathways, or RCPs.

They are scenario models for forecasters to use when modeling certain climate related metrics.

As the sculptures are approached they engage with the viewer and create a sometimes uneasy soundscape representing one of these scenarios. Illustrating the human effect and how we are influencing these changes.

The sculptures also have a representative material, representing a current and / or future sector that is or will be playing a role in climate change.

We are the human effect and we cause the ClimateScape.

It is up to us to right the ship. We as artists must bring continued awareness. We as humans must act.

NYTimes - Climate Change Article Data Visualization


What are Representative Concentration Pathways?

The RCP’s are representative greenhouse gas trajectories adopted by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change(IPCC) in 2014. It basically describes best and worst case scenerios if we (humans) take action on climate change or do nothing.

These pathways can then be used to map out projections on potential global warming and sea level rise as well as other metrics we may see over the next 100 years.

RCP 4.5

Emissions peak 50% higher than 2000 levels by mid century and decrease quickly over the next 30 years. The climate stabilizes at about half of 2000 levels around 2070.

Representative Sector: Industry. Industry is the 3rd largest contributor to emissions currently.
Representative Material: onetime use plastics.


RCP 6

RCP 6 projects emissions have doubled by 2060. Then they drop quickly but stay much much higher than current levels. C02 concentration still increases, slows the later part of the century.

Representative Sector: Electricity. Electircity is the 2rd largest contributor to emissions currently.
Representative Material: coal.