A University of Exeter researcher is behind the viral Artic Risk Name Generator, which was launched to spread awareness of Artic warming in the hope of inciting climate action.

Gail Whiteman, or Gail Uncontrollable Wildfires Whiteman, is a Professor in Sustainability at the Business School and the founder of Arctic Basecamp, the science communications platform that developed ArcticRisk.

The Arctic Basecamp team creatively contributes to climate awareness and activism efforts; last year, they brought an iceberg to COP26, and the name generator was launched for COP27. At COP27, QR codes that link to the name generator and sustainable name tags were available, while at-home users could download their name tags.

After receiving a new name, users are encouraged to change their names on social media and take a three-step Climate Arctic Challenge. There is also an option to create another name, and with every name, users learn another specific risk they might normally gloss over. Notably, Actor Rainn Wilson, who is most known for his role as Dwight in The Office, changed his name to “Rainnfall Heat Wave Extreme Winter Wilson”, posting an explanatory video on Twitter.