BOINC

Now that I have your attention. Many people want to know how to make a contribution to the climate change problem. I am no different and try to do the right things. All my light globes are low-watt compact fluorescent and I use public transport (easy when you don't have a car).

But I do something else that is really cool. I run climate modelling software on my laptop which helps scientists around the world create better predictions about our climate and the impacts of CO₂. What is great is that I don't need to know anything about climate modelling or the science. I participate in what is known as distributed computing, whereby many home and work Macs and PCs perform part of a much bigger project, thus contributing computer power which ordinarily would be unavailable.

There may be several systems available but I use a program called BOINC, which, besides climate change modelling, has several other projects attached to it. So you can choose and participate in whatever holds your interest. The great thing about the program is that is runs quietly in the background, using the capacity of your computer which you are not. You have some control about how the program runs and can limit the amount of computer capacity it uses. There is even a nifty screensaver which show the program running with graphics.

The program downloads small packets of data from the website and then uploads them automatically when the module is complete. Climate Prediction is run by Oxford University so is a reputable project (shut up Andrew Bolt!) Visit the website for more information. As a fun side project, I also run SETI@home (setiathome.berkeley.edu/index.php), which is a project looking for signals from space that may be from intelligent life; that way I can pretend I am Jodie Foster in Contact and get to snog Matthew McConaughy.