"Climate change is not a game. Yet the group of town employees from the Barnstable public works and growth management departments I joined Wednesday were instructed to treat the politically charged scientific debate exactly like a game. No, this wasn't a gathering of climate change-deniers mocking a global threat (though the skeptics were well represented). The 'game' was the centerpiece of the plan, organized by climatologists trying to figure out how to move the conversation forward. They called it a 'climate change role play simulation workshop' — the first of three to be held on Cape Cod this week and next week. Similar interactive workshops are being hosted in three other New England coastal communities: Dover, N.H.; Cranston, R.I.; and Wells, Maine. 'This project uses realistic data but in a fictitious setting — to remove the emotional personal reaction and polarizing views that come with climate-change discussions,' explained Tonna-Marie Rogers, Waquoit Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve program coordinator. ..."

-Sean Gonsalvez Read on from the Cape Cod Times.