Harnessing Visualization for Climate Action and Sustainable Future

Abstract: The urgency of climate change is now recognized globally. As humanity confronts the critical need to mitigate climate change and foster sustainability, data visualization emerges as a powerful tool with a unique capacity to communicate insights crucial for understanding environmental complexities. This paper explores the critical need for designing and investigating responsible data visualization that can act as a catalyst for engaging communities within global climate action and sustainability efforts. Grounded in prior work and reflecting on a decade of community engagement research, I propose five critical considerations: (1) inclusive and accessible visualizations for enhancing climate education and communication, (2) interactive visualizations for fostering agency and deepening engagement, (3) in-situ visualizations for reducing spatial indirection, (4) shared immersive experiences for catalyzing collective action, and (5) accurate, transparent, and credible visualizations for ensuring trust and integrity. These considerations offer strategies and new directions for visualization research, aiming to enhance community engagement, deepen involvement, and foster collective action on critical socio-technical including and beyond climate change.