Virtual reality could make real difference in environment

By Jeremy Ballenson

But there’s a potential solution for all of this: Use virtual reality, or simulated immersive experiences, to bring people inside of a degraded ocean ecosystem, and show how their behavior is contributing to the problem.

Virtual reality looks, sounds and feels real, but is simulated by technology that feeds computer-generated content to the sensory organs. Instead of watching a nature show, a person is mentally transported inside the natural environment.

In the Virtyal Human interaction Lab at Stanford, we have shown how putting people in virtual reality can get them to save more for retirement, exercise more, show more empathy, and yes, act in a way that is more environmentally sound.

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