Web 2.0 and environmental activism joined forces on Earth Day 2010 on 22 April 2010 with a pioneering new social media tool that makes it easier than ever before for UK citizens to participate in a global day of action conversations.

For Earth Day 2010, Welcoming Argument Visualisation in Europe (WAVE), a European Commission initiative, launched a unique, visually enabled debate forum specifically dedicated to climate change. The forum, which is free of charge to all users, uses ground breaking graphical techniques to enable everyone, regardless of their level of knowledge, to exchange views on complex climate change issues.

"This is a new era for debate," said Ken Bellamy, Director of the Automatic Identification and Data Capture (AIDC) Centre of Excellence and founding partner of the WAVE project.  "We are shaking up the traditional online forum to create a truly dynamic environment for discussion that allows people with opposing views to see and respond to each other's arguments." "WAVE aims to harness the power of collaborative action to help give individuals and communities a voice on the climate change issues that matter to them." he added.

The results of the discussions will be shared with politicians across Europe to help them make better informed decisions on climate change measures.

As Robert Sturdy, Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for Eastern England stated: "Climate change is not going away and we must prepare ourselves for whatever the future may hold [...] Citizens should pay a central role in formulating policy".  Sturdy urged project WAVE on:  "I would like to encourage your work and hope that it will be of use to the Commission in particular, and the European Union in general."

Background information

Project WAVE aims to improve the inclusiveness and transparency of EU decision making at the national and European level by using highly integrated, state-of-the-art Argument Visualisation techniques to make the impact of complex EU environmental legislation on climate change more accessible and easy to understand for citizens, special interest groups and decision makers alike.

Partners in the Project include the University of Macedonia (Greece), the National University of Ireland (Republic of Ireland), Thoughtgraph Ltd (United Kingdom), 21c Consultancy Ltd (United Kingdom), Politech Institute (Belgium), Sophia Antipolis Foundation (France), AIDC European Centre of Excellence (United Kingdom) and Kauni Technologijos Universitas (Lithuania).

WAVE is supported by the European Commission under its eParticipation framework.

Further Information:

• Original press release - Welcoming Argument Visualisation in Europe (WAVE) project
• WAVE Platform