Promoting science in Second Life's on-line world

The on-line simulation of the world that is Second Life was home to some a dramatic science demonstration recently as sections of it were "flooded" (virtually) as part of a campaign to raise awareness climate change.



Like it or not, climate change is the big science story of the moment, and although this stunt (in the positive sense of the word!) was pioneered by an environmentalist it shows the impact that science-based content from scientists could have. Rumour has it at least one Irish science outreach programme is planning to setup shop on Second Life too.



National Geographic News has more information on the virtual flood:

Tokyo, Amsterdam, and the entire Mediterranean island of Ibiza were inundated with floodwaters today due to rising sea levels brought on by global warming.



Or at least, that would have been the headline if events in the virtual world Second Life mirrored reality.

A rolling flood temporarily swamped several areas of the online world as part of a campaign to illustrate the potential environmental and financial impacts of climate change.

"Our message was, You may have a second life, but [you still need to] offset your second life in real life," said David de Rothschild, a London-based environmentalist and adventurer whose nonprofit Adventure Ecology helped stage today's flood.

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