The Inspiration

Reading this story is what sparked the idea of creating The Climate Trail:

A Full Life

A science-fiction story about America in the age of climate change.

A Full Life, By Paolo Bacigalupi

By the time Rue reached 15 she had begun to measure her life by her many moves, the parchment of her life torn into fragments, each one reducing the integrity of the whole. Each small leaf then folded. Folded and shaped until it became surreal origami. Tear here. Fold there. This part became a house, burning down. Tear here, fold again. This shred became a rusty diesel truck, driving south. Tear again. Fold. This bit became an apartment building, without a roof.

Tear here. Tear again. Make a casket.

The story is powerful and it got me thinking, am I doing ANY good by spending time rebutting climate deniers on Facebook et. al.? Is there a way of showing people how bad this could be, what a 4ºC warmed world (or worse) could end up like?

So for the first time in well over a decade I find myself directly working on a game. I felt it would be a proactive way of dealing with my frustrations about our inaction on climate.

Maybe it’s a futile effort, who can say.