Can a game help you take effective climate action?

Megan Hall: Welcome to Possably, where we take big problems like the future of our planet and break them down into small questions with unexpected answers. I’m Megan Hall.

This week, two of our reporters played a game designed to help us make better decisions about climate change. But can something like this really make that much of a difference?

Isha Thakkar and Charlie Adams from our Possibly team have more.

Isha Thakkar: Hello, Megan!

Charlie Adams: Hello!

Megan Hall: So, tell me about this game?

Isha Thakkar: Well, first of all we had to try it out! We played the game “Choose Your Own Adventure: Climate Action” developed by Professor Kimberly Nicholas. Designing games is not her main job…

Kimberly Nicholas: I am a climate and sustainability scientist and professor at Lund University in Sweden.

Isha Thakkar: Kimberly says the game gives people tailored advice on what they can do to help with the climate crisis.

Charlie Adams: She researches and calculates behind the scenes and then combines them with your personal data.

Megan Hall: What kind of information?

Isha Thakker: The game asks what country you live in, your level of education and how much you earn to find out what it calls your “climate superpower.”

Megan Hall: What does that mean?

Charlie Adams: In your superpower, you have the power to make the biggest change. And it turns out that different people will have different ways to combat climate change most effectively.

Isha Thakkar: For example, when I played the game, my climate superpower was “Citizen.” This means that the most effective thing I can do right now is pretty simple: vote.

Charlie Adams: It depends on the election and there must be significant differences in the candidates’ climate policies, but Kimberly says a study of the 2019 Canadian election found that…

Kimberly Nicholas: A single vote can have three times more impact than your entire household’s consumption choices, and that’s because climate policies are adopted that allow, for example, coal-fired power plants to close or operate and make it easier for people to walk and bike to work to come instead of driving and thus reduce emissions.

Isha Thakkar: Therefore, the game recommends supporting candidates supported by environmental groups such as the League of Conservation Voters.

Megan Hall: Impressive! Are there other superpowers?

Charlie Adams: Yes! One thing many have is being a “consumer.” For example, if you earn more than $38,000, you are in the top 10% of income globally.

Isha Thakkar: Depending on where you live, this may mean you can be more selective about your purchasing power and spending – or not spend – money for.

Charlie Adams: Kimberly says there are three main ways these consumers can reduce their carbon emissions:

Kimberly Nicholas: So we’ve consistently found that reducing or avoiding flying, driving and eating meat makes the biggest difference in reducing today’s emissions for this high consumption group.

Charlie Adams: This is exactly what Kimberly has been working on in her own life:

Kimberly Nicholas: I reduced my flying effort by about 90%. So that’s made a really big difference, and I’ve been involved in the work to try to help others do the same and make it easier in science, for example, to fly less, and to identify guidelines, which reduce flying overall.

Isha Thakkar: It’s so easy to get stuck and not know what decision to make, which Kimberly calls “analysis paralysis.”

Kimberly Nicholas: So I think, you know, we need good, solid, evidence-based information to help us make good decisions, but sometimes we just get lost in the information and don’t make a decision at all.

Charlie Adams: That’s why games like the “Choose Your Own Adventure: Climate Action” game can be helpful –

Isha Thakkar: Maybe not to convince you why you should take climate action, but to provide research-based answers about exactly what climate action you can take.

Charlie Adams: Ultimately, Kimberly says the game works best for people who are already educated about climate change and global warming.

Isha Thakkar:: This game may not help you change your mind, but it may Focus on the ways you can most significantly reduce your carbon emissions.

Megan Hall: Great! Thank you, Isha and Charlie!

That’s it for today. If you’d like to try the climate game yourself, there’s a link at askpossibly.org.

For more information about the impact your choices have on our planet, visit askpossibly.org. You can also subscribe to Possably wherever you get your podcasts or follow us on Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn or X at “askpossibly”

It may be a co-production of Brown University’s Institute for Environment and Society, Brown’s Climate Solutions Initiative and Public’s Radio.

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