November/December 2008 Issue

Five Ways to Game Global Warming

These online ecofantasies put the fun back into saving the planet.

Image: Courtesy Electronic Arts

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The ultrahyped Spore isn’t the only game where global warming is part of the virtual landscape.

SimCity Societies
(Electronic Arts with BP)
the goal: Evolve from farm to megacity, using BP’s “alternative energy” module to avert climate disasters.
cool factor: Punish carbon-heavy cities with Transformerslike robots. tiny.cc/SimCitySocieties

Planet Green Game
(Starbucks with Global Green USA)
the goal: Bike through town, “greening” public spaces, learning about real-life projects as you go.
cool factor: Soothing indie-rock soundtrack steals focus from pedantic quizzes. planetgreengame.com

Planet Slayer
(Australian Broadcasting Corporation)
the goal: As Greena the Worrier Princess, you save the planet from flocks of airborne shopping bags, winning…a hug from a koala.
cool factor: Cloying teen-girl color scheme triggers a Pavlovian aversion to excess packaging. tiny.cc/PlanetSlayer

Michael, Michael, Go Recycle!
(parenting community Kaboose.com)
the goal: Pick up cans and garbage, Pac-Man style. Bump into “litterbugs” to make green leaves come out of their heads.
cool factor: Kids will see right through this virtual chore. tiny.cc/MichaelRecycle780

Climate Challenge
(British Broadcasting Corporation)
the goal: Balance progress and popularity to stay in office from 1990 to 2080: Save Europe’s environment; win votes by hosting the Olympics again and again.
cool factor: Playing power-crazed politician is addictive. tiny.cc/ClimateChallenge

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THE FACTS SPEAK FOR THEMSELVES.

At least we hope they will, because that’s our approach to raising the $350,000 in online donations we need right now—during our high-stakes December fundraising push.

It’s the most important month of the year for our fundraising, with upward of 15 percent of our annual online total coming in during the final week—and there’s a lot to say about why Mother Jones’ journalism, and thus hitting that big number, matters tremendously right now.

But you told us fundraising is annoying—with the gimmicks, overwrought tone, manipulative language, and sheer volume of urgent URGENT URGENT!!! content we’re all bombarded with. It sure can be.

So we’re going to try making this as un-annoying as possible. In “Let the Facts Speak for Themselves” we give it our best shot, answering three questions that most any fundraising should try to speak to: Why us, why now, why does it matter?

The upshot? Mother Jones does journalism you don’t find elsewhere: in-depth, time-intensive, ahead-of-the-curve reporting on underreported beats. We operate on razor-thin margins in an unfathomably hard news business, and can’t afford to come up short on these online goals. And given everything, reporting like ours is vital right now.

If you can afford to part with a few bucks, please support the reporting you get from Mother Jones with a much-needed year-end donation. And please do it now, while you’re thinking about it—with fewer people paying attention to the news like you are, we need everyone with us to get there.

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