Communicating Earth's climate history through Manga-style artwork

Communicating the history of natural climate variation to the wider public is critical for an understanding of the global-scale challenges posed by 21st century climate change. Here, we present an overview of ongoing work to reach high-school age students using Manga-style artwork and storyboards, focusing on the theme of "Earth's Changing Climate". Connected to a UK research-council (NERC) funded research project in paleoclimates, we are facilitating a series of events and outreach activities that use Manga artwork to frame our understanding of Earth's climate history and relevance for encouraging mitigation of future climate change. This project works alongside Manga and graphic novel artist Edward Ross (http://edwardmaross.blogspot.co.uk), to produce a striking new illustrated narrative "Earth's Changing Climate". This will be showcased in a dedicated exhibition in the Lapworth Museum of Geology in Birmingham, UK between March and June 2019. More importantly, we aim to work with high-school aged students to develop their own Manga-style storyboards to explore the issues around climate change, climate impacts and mitigation. The new artwork will provide engaging resources for ongoing public outreach workshops. It will also be made freely available as an educational resource in the area of climate change.