Exploring Climate Science in the Metaverse: Interactive Storytelling in Immersive Environments for Deep Learning and Public Engagement

Climate science can be too complex for the general public to understand. By sharing several exemplary projects in this chapter, I hope to demonstrate how combining interactive storytelling in immersive environments with simulation, games, telepresence, social learning, and govies (a blend of movies with games) can provide mass audiences a deep learning experience about the natural world and issues related to the climate crisis. This approach offers participants extraordinary opportunities as scientific explorers to investigate real-world problems, present scientific information through live broadcast and pre-rendered videos projected on immersive cinema screens, and access media resources through individual touchscreen terminals and AI-driven voice-controlled interactions to participate in real-time group discussions in a shared space – physical and virtual – simultaneously. The metaverse is here, and the technological and social features of these immersive experiences hold tremendous value for public engagement with science education and climate communication.