Climate change vs. oceans; why the ocean matters

The news is full of articles about climate change and the effect on humans and earth as we know it. The International Panel for Climate Change (IPCC), a body from the United Nation, came out with a new report gathering current knowledge on the impact of climate change on our planet Earth and life. Climate change in regards to oceans is not much discussed in the media, even though the oceanic ecosystem plays a substantial role on climate change. The ocean is a complex system which is often only explained in models and complicated calculations by experts. Our aim is to make people aware of the impact oceans have on the climate system and vice versa. We would like to motivate our audience to take climate change more seriously, so that we can move forward taking meaningful action towards slowing down climate change. Our focus will lie on CO2 in the ocean. 

Mathijs Andeweg

I am Mathijs Andeweg, and as a 24 year old student I have already completed five years at Utrecht University. During this time I have finished a bachelor in geosciences and now I am working on completing my masters in Earth, Surface and Water. During my bachelor and master I have focused on topics such as: climate change, physical geography and geo information systems. Now I am taking on the challenge to communicate these topics to a broader audience, because it is important to have a close connection between the world of science and the general public. 

Tika van Galen

I am Tika van Galen, 24 years old and my background is in both geosciences and biology. I studied at Utrecht University where I got a bachelor degree in Earth Science for which I minored in Biology. For my master degree I went to Uppsala University in Sweden where I got a diploma in Paleobiology. Science is a beautiful thing to me which I want to share with as many people as possible and get people excited about learning new things. 

Michel van Grootel

I am Michiel van Grootel, currently I am pursuing a master’s degree in Science Education and Communication Utrecht University. Having lived in 6 different countries, I see everywhere that there is a big communication barrier between scientists and everyone else. By providing more outreach and communication to the public and making people more interested, this barrier can be dissolved. Ultimately, science should be done for the benefit of the people, and therefore ideally everyone should be part of the conversation. This conversation starts when young, and therefore am pursuing this master to become an chemistry teacher.

Héloïse Ribot

I’m Héloïse Ribot, a French exchange student with a bachelor’s degree in biology. This year I am studying at Utrecht University in a Master program concerning science communication. I enjoy all kinds of sciences but especially the science that studies the functioning of organisms. I appreciate sharing my knowledge with people from different backgrounds. One of my challenges is to help those who are afraid of science to understand how the world around us works and how it is impacted by climate change in order to make things happen together.