Human activities are reshaping the Earth’s water cycle, leading to significant changes in cloud formation and precipitation. Colorado State University’s Patrick Keys has explored these impacts through interdisciplinary research, employing narrative scenarios to envision future water management challenges. Credit: SciTechDaily.com
Land use change is altering where clouds form and how precipitation is distributed. Meanwhile, weather modification activities like cloud seeding are shifting how nations plan for water use in the face of climate change. These and other changes to the planet’s atmospheric water cycle were once hard to imagine but are increasingly part of modern water management on the planet.Colorado State University Assistant Professor Patrick Keys is an expert in climate and societal change.
The work features striking artist-made images that pair with traditional science fiction narratives as well as alternative story forms like first-person journal entries. Keys said the package offers a wide path – grounded in science – to build a shared understanding of future water management activities and problems.
It’s those relationships and interactions, Keys wanted to explore in the third part of this research and where science fiction comes into play.With a better grip on the potential future relationships of water management in this space, Keys next asked experts to imagine a world that is decades in the future where activities like cloud seeding were common and the long-term results are more apparent.
“I think we have a sense that some futures are more likely than others, but we need to realize that to adequately cover the possible trajectories our world could head toward, models alone may not cut it,” he said. “Especially when we are talking about things that are hard to quantify, like culture or perception, that may wind up playing a large part in the actual outcomes.”