Climate Up Close, a nonprofit founded by climate scientists, is hitting the road this month to discuss climate change at community centers in Lincoln and Omaha, Nebraska.

Climate Up Close makes the essentials of climate science broadly accessible. The group’s presentations – free and open to the public – are aimed at general audiences and seek to provide a science-based, common language for discussion. Composed of working climate scientists from Cornell University, Harvard University, and Princeton University, the group is independent, nonpartisan, and policy-neutral. Over the past six years, they have reached thousands of attendees from the general public – from those engaged in climate activism to those who are deeply skeptical that climate change is human-caused.

Events feature a 45-minute presentation that explores the current “landscape of climate knowledge,” placing aspects of the science on a spectrum from settled to speculative. The “settled” category covers sea-level rise and intensifying heat waves; the “speculative” category includes ice-sheet collapse and a permafrost carbon bomb. At the research frontier, between these two categories, lie hurricanes and wildfires—phenomena whose connections to climate change are only partly understood. The presentation is followed by 30 minutes of Q&A and informal discussion.

Nathaniel Tarshish, a fellow at the Harvard University Center for the Environment and founding member of Climate Up Close, emphasizes that this scientific primer aims to spark a broader conversation: “Science can’t dictate what we should do—that depends on our values and priorities. Our duty as scientists is to make the evidence clear so everyone can engage in an informed debate about the best path forward on climate change.”

The eight-stop tour in Nebraska runs from June 26 to 29. Details on locations and events can be found at climateupclose.org.