The city of Cranston held its second of four climate change workshops on Aug. 20 at the Cranston Senior Center. Hoping to inform Cranston and Rhode Island residents of the consequences of global warming, this interactive, role-playing simulation was designed to bring awareness to climate change threats and assist communities in planning for anticipated environmental changes. Cranston, in partnership with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Science Impact Collaborative (MIT) and the Consensus Building Institute (CBI), plans to use these public forums to research how the community and local governments can implement changes to reduce vulnerability to flooding and its effects. The project, entitled the New England Climate Adaptation Project (NECAP), aims at educating cities, towns, and constituents about the impacts of climate change within their community. “We’re testing to see who needs to be involved in the planning process, to bring people together to see if anyone would learn from this exercise, and if it will make a difference going forward,” said Carri Hulet, senior associate at CBI and one of the coordinators of the evening’s events. Attended by over 30 Rhode Island and Southern New England residents, each participant was assigned a role as a member of a fictitious community named Milton, which was designed to emulate Cranston. Participants were given assigned roles ranging from planning director, neighborhood association director, and the Chamber of Commerce, amongst others. Broken down into smaller groups of about six participants, these players were asked to “suspend disbelief” and debate amongst each other, with each assuming the viewpoint of their assigned role – even if that role conflicted with their personal views. The intent was to reach a consensus to stop flooding in the hypothetical city. Read more...