For the past 5 years Emmy winning film maker and educator Christopher Philipp has been working on research and game simulations concerning Arctic warming with students involved in the Center for Environmental Leadership Training in Hanover, NH, mostly students at Dartmouth College.Their objective is to use this research in an educational game on how human actions affect Arctic climate. Philipp is working with Climate Institute and Marilyn Lord, an educator and institute Board member, to develop a plan for designing and implementing an Arctic Survival Challenge game. Working with an internationally known film pioneer the Climate Institute hopes to expand its nascent effort to develop a range of climate related apps and games on climate topics generally as well as on the Arctic.
Details will soon be posted. Meanwhile this site provides links to other climate related games in various languages collected by CELT research fellows and Interns.
Climate Games and Problem Solving Tools
Learn why ending the growth in emissions is not enough to confront climate change with a handy visual aid. The failure to understand the simple physical fact that is illustrated with this animation has had serious consequences for policymaking.
A Simple System Dynamics Problem:
Still confused about why emissions need to be cut and not just prevented from growing to prevent further climate change? This problem, although not about climate change, illustrates the physical facts behind the need while discussing the reasons why so many people have difficulty coming to this realization. The full paper from which this problem is excerpted is available here.
Bathtub Dynamics and Climate Change:
Continue exploring the dynamics of climate change with a set of exercises that looks at the way delays and positive feedback effect our ability to develop good climate policy.
What Can I Do?
In this section increase your awareness of your energy use and learn how to live in a more energy efficient manner by playing fun and educational games.
Locate potential energy efficiency improvements and answer quiz questions to lower a house’s energy use. This game meant for younger audiences provides a fun and easy format for learning to save energy.
What Can We Do?
In this section learn what can be done by people working together in a community whether it’s a company determining how to reduce its environmental impact, a city ensuring its energy supply, or a nation trying to meet its international commitments to emissions reductions.
Learn the factors behind pollution levels in this game that allows you to determine the weather, land use patterns, and economic setup of a city. The simulator reports back on a variety of pollutants depending on the choices you make.
“Crunch time is an online quiz game that teaches kids about energy, science, and sustainability. This game is recommended for elementary to middle school ages.”
Can you make America energy independent? Set your desired level of oil imports and see if you can develop policies that make the switch away from foreign oil possible. This simulation illustrates the challenges of switching away from oil and the futility of many of the stop-gap measures that are proposed instead of real efforts to shift away from oil use.
Negotiations Materials:
In this section find tools to aid the simulation of international climate negotiations. Whether you are looking for a model to tell you the results of your final agreement or materials to provide to the players, you can find what you are looking for here.
“C-Roads simulates how fossil fuel emissions effect the rate global temperature rise. The user can change various policies to curb or increase fossil fuel emissions and see how if those policies will decrease or increase the rate of temperature change. C-Roads was developed in partnership with Climate Interactive, MIT, Ventana Systems, and UML Climate Change Initiative. It has been used professionally but can also be a great resource to teach students about how greenhouse gasses effect the planet. Recommended for high school and college.”
Kiotin y la Maquina del Tiempo:
This resource is a children’s story designed to educate about the effects of climate change.
Tools and Games in Arabic:
Website in Arabic from Israel which includes more of an interactive presentation of information and a series of quiz questions: http://ofek.cet.ac.il/units/ar/science/intro.aspx
The Climate Games and Problem Solving Tools are divided into 4 categories; Climate Dynamics, What Can I Do?, What Can We Do?, and Negotiations Materials. Some games are available in French, Chinese, Spanish, and Portuguese.