Half Earth Socialism: A Planetary Crisis Planning Game

Lucy Chinen is an artist and co-founder of nonfood, a micro-algae-based food company. She researches food tech as it relates to climate change. Half Earth Socialism: A Planetary Crisis Planning Game is a video game she contributed to as Dialogue Writer. Scanning a QR code, players try their hand as global planners of a future society. The game simulates the impact of human decisions on food systems and biodiversity. Players must decide what projects the world will pursue, such as alternative energy, massive infrastructure or even space travel, all the while calculating their respective carbon emissions.  The challenge is to decide how energy and food are to be produced. This game is inspired by the book, Half-Earth Socialism, by Drew Pendergrass and Troy Vettese. The title was inspired by Half-Earth from renowned biologist, E.O. Wilson, whose research lent urgency to the call to protect ecosystems and prevent human extinction. The game was developed by Francis Tseng and TRUST.