Climate Narrative Conversations

<h2>Introduction</h2>

How much will the Earth's atmosphere warm from human activities? What will the impacts of that warming be, and for whom? Will the warming be significantly moderated by the efforts of climate constituencies? Which climate future will prevail?

There are no reliable answers to ANY of these questions. But they are critical questions that could determine the future of many human and natural systems.

There are many conversations taking place around the topic of climate futures. These conversations often occur in relative isolation of each other, with each conversation approaching the topic from a different direction, with its own framing, assumptions, and constituency.

But the reality is that there will be just one climate future, and as of today it's hard to be particularly optimistic about that future. An unintended consequence of the many climate conversations underway is that in competing with each other for adherents and to be the "dominant conversation," they can undermine each other and lessen the chance of making progress on climate change.

The more that participants to the different conversations understand the range of conversations that are underway, the greater the chance of making progress on climate change.

Therefore, our Will the Real Climate Future Please Stand Up! course explores the major climate conversations through an evidence-based frame. While each of the conversations we cover could be the topic of its own course, the intended audience would be very different. Our goal is to promote cross-conversation understanding and collaboration, and covering a different conversation with each course session is sufficient to accomplish that objective. Each session will explore the key parameters and assumptions of a conversation, and the most important uncertainties surrounding the conversation.

By the end of Will the Real Climate Future Please Stand Up! participants will have been exposed to more than a dozen key climate conversations through an evidence-based frame, have developed a much better understanding of how these conversations fit together into the larger climate change picture, and be in a better position to advance climate change mitigation goals.