Month: June 2021

Sometimes I need to balance out my bright and happy summer activities with a good ol’ brood – and my favorite way to do that is with one of my favorite eco-dystopian classics: Final Fantasy VII. A great game that also unknowingly teaches us a lot of different lessons about how unchecked environmental exploitation can lead to a world that doesn’t look so great. Like, Cloud’s-hair-not-great.

If its been a while since you played the game or you were too distracted by the love triangle in the remake, you may have not even realized that an overarching conflict of the game is based on a basic principle that we see all the time in the real world: The Tragedy of the Commons.

What’s that then? The subtitle of the 5,989,777th spin-off of Final Fantasy 7? Nope! Well, at time of writing. The Tragedy of the Commons is actually the name of an economic theory that describes how humans tend to behave when different people or groups are dependent on the same “common” natural resource. It says that without any social structure or rules, people will tend to act in their self-interest (big surprise there) and take what they need from the “common” resource regardless of what other people are doing. 

The problem? Well, this usually means that the resource is then overexploited and either temporarily or permanently damaged. It is ultimately mutually destructive for everyone in the long run unless everyone cooperates which usually means less short term personal gain. (For anyone who is familiar, Tragedy of the Commons is considered an example of the Prisoner’s Dilemma, because it is a social problem based on collective action).

As an example, let’s think about the universe of FF7 and our favorite evil corporation: the Shinra Electric Power Company.

Shinra started its humble beginnings in weapons manufacturing (like all good, honest corporations do) but then discovered a way to harvest the planet’s *lifestream* and refine it into an energy source called Mako. The lifestream is considered the spiritual energy of the planet and is described as the collective knowledge and emotional memory bank of all life that has existed and is needed to create new life. So, Shinra is taking it and making it into Mako and selling it. Because everyone needs energy and Shinra is the only company that makes Mako, they don’t just make money, they make A LOT of it. They use that power to get more power and end up basically controlling everything.

How is this a Tragedy of the Commons? Well. The lifestream isn’t “owned” by any one person. But it is important to EVERYone. However, one party – in this case Shinra – is harvesting more than their fair share and endangering the very existence of the lifestream. Not only that, but they are selling it back to the very people that it collectively belongs to and making a profit. They know that they will run out of lifestream and are actively searching for new sources, but I won’t elaborate in case there are any of you who live under a rock and don’t already know the story. Or you’re waiting for Square Enix to release the next part of the remake. In which case, enjoy finding out how the story ends in 2322!

The result leads to a world where all the characters, even the villains, have been negatively impacted by the ecological, social, or economic backlash of the Shinra corps. Even Sephiroth (*cue One Winged Angel theme*) owes his tortured back story to Shinra. You may think, “ok great but that would NEVER happen in the real world.” But sadly it does! Even though we all seem to have brains, we don’t always use them in a way that makes a lot of sense.

Think about the Earth’s atmosphere. Doesn’t all of humanity and all life depend on it? But we are also actively mucking it up. By pumping greenhouse gases and toxins into our atmosphere, we damage or fundamentally change it in a way that is worse for EVERYONE. If we know this, why does it keep happening? Because individuals have something to gain – usually short-term economic profit of some kind.  We all benefit from creating less greenhouse gases, but it entails collective action that isn’t always easy.

Ultimately, the concept of the Tragedy of the Commons can seem basic and easy to overcome but it gives us a glimpse at how seemingly simple problems unfold to become very complex based on ecological, social, and economic structures. FF7 creates a whole world filled with characters with very different motivations and reactions to the terrible situations they’re in, but the true source of the conflict often leads straight back to the Shinra Electric Power Company and their monopoly on society. Including its source of life – the lifestream.

How can we combat this existential dread in our own lives? Well in addition to learning the latin lyrics to One Winged Angel (ok that’s voluntary) you can learn more about where you get your important resources, like food and clean water. It sounds inconsequential, but if you know where you get your food or clothes or water then you are one step closer to understanding if those systems are unsustainable. Then you can advocate for better systems or choose better options (if they exist)! You can also support organizations that try to make better systems. Some like Kiss the Ground or Greenwave try to create food systems that can provide enough food for a growing world all while not harming the environment – which makes sense since we need the environment to make any food in the first place. 

That, and keep following Climate Replay for fun articles and events. No really, please hang out with us, this stuff can get depressing. Why did I choose FF7 as my summer game again? Take me back, Animal Crossing! Endlessly repeated sea bass joke, all is forgiven.

Have you played Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney? It’s an excellent game where you play a defense lawyer who exposes lies in the most dramatic way possible. You do this by carefully reading witness statements, finding contradictory evidence, and then pointing in their big lying faces while yelling “OBJECTION!” at the top of your lungs. It’s excellent. And also surprisingly good training for spotting real-world lies. Like this one:

What does my inherent laziness have to do with greenwashing? Well, these methods can also be handy for verifying too-good-to-be-true statements from corporations who appear to be helping fight the climate crisis and reduce their emissions. Statements like ‘we aim to be net-zero by 2050’ or ‘we’re working hard to produce sustainable plastic by year X’ or ‘don’t worry, this toxic waste we’re dumping in the ocean is just a birthday present for the dolphins ;D’. Statements that sound good on paper but don’t hold up to scrutiny, and have us yelling, Phoenix Wright-style:

So this week, we thought we’d apply some Phoenix Wright logic (er, minus all the stuff where you talk to ghosts – it’s a long story) to some of our ‘favourite’ pieces of greenwashing PR. Here’s some increasingly common lies to look out for.

“We aim to be X by 2050” without any concrete steps or accountability actions.

A modern classic! According to several scientists we contacted for this article, 2050 is still 29 years away. While some major green initiatives obviously take a lot of time, 29 years is a suspiciously distant deadline that could easily be used to justify complacency when more immediate action is vital. Like, say, an oil company that says it’s aiming to be sustainable by 2050 but is still drilling for new oil and gas.

Imagine if I’d been given 29 years to finish this article. it would have looked like this for 28.9 of them:

One of the most devious bits of greenwashing involves a symbol you probably see on a lot of your food packaging:

Hey, that looks like a recycling symbol! And ‘looks like’ is exactly what the pro-plastics lobbying group who created this symbol were going for. This ‘resin identification code’ actually identifies what type of plastic it is. The product it’s on can potentially be recycled. but whether it actually will be is completely dependent on the plastic recycling infrastructure in your area. Those arrows are deliberately misleading, designed to make you think that you can just chuck the packaging in the recycling without a second thought and then brag to all your friends about how you’re basically Ghandi 2. This excellent video by Climate Town is a hilarious primer about the whole depressing history of this. Recommended!

We’re more likely to buy something if we think we can easily recycle it, which is essentially greenwashing 101; lying that something is good for the environment or sustainable to boost sales. The truth is that the amount of plastic that is recyclable is shockingly low. We’ve only recycled 8-9% of all the plastic in the world that’s ever been produced. Plus, when plastic is recycled, it’s a lower grade. Recycled food grade plastic can’t be used for food grade plastic again, for example, because it no longer meets a certain health requirement. 

Sometimes you might see bio or compostable plastics – but, again, these are still plastic. Bio plastics source from “bio” materials like corn which would probably be better served as food for hungry people…but we still end up with the same plastic products that live indefinitely in the environment or landfills. Compostable plastics can technically degrade, but require industrial scale compost facilities that don’t exist in all cities. Do you have industrial compost options where you live?. Because chances are, you don’t. Which means it won’t be recycled. 

Obviously we’re not anti-recycling here at Climate Replay. Wait, are we? *checks Climate Replay constitution* Nope. Phew! But recycling is being exploited here by private companies falsely implying that we can keep mass producing plastics because recycling is the solution. It isn’t! Again, only 8-9% of all the plastic in the world got recycled! Would you read this article if I’d only spelt 8-9% of the words correctly? Exacctly!

Plastics are made from oil and gas products but don’t carry the negative PR of oil or other fossil fuels. That’s why fossil fuel companies are pushing them more and more with these misleading claims that they’re easily recyclable and fully endorsed by puppies and God or whatever. But plastic is about as closely linked with sustainability as this article is with Phoenix Wright (don’t worry, I’ll crowbar in a few more forced references soon, I promise x). You should just avoid using plastic as much as possible. Isn’t that right, Phoenix?

Thanks, Phoenix!

“Waste to Energy”. What if we could just set fire to all the trash and it would transform into a great source of energy? That sounds good! Too good! Too good to be true! Oh, darn…

Yep, what the three words of a buzzy phrase like ‘waste to energy’ fail to mention is that the energy conversion is very inefficient. Plus, there are still toxic byproducts. We also don’t want to create a supply chain for burning garbage, especially because burning things is pretty horrible for the environment.

“Creating a circular economy”

This one is a little tricky because the idea of making a circular economy for all our products is a cool goal. The idea is that a product should have a circular life cycle rather than one that ends up in a landfill/the environment. However, some companies will use this language to distract the conversation. They will say they “support a circular economy” but not talk about how they will actually, say, reduce their plastic production. They may even fight *against* systems that promote a circular economy like bottle deposits or refill stations for products like liquid soaps. It’s also another great example of pushing recycling as a magical fix to the entire problem, which it definitely is not.

You can find some outstanding circular economy flexing on the site of Aramco, the world’s biggest oil company. Look, it’s got a fun picture and a photo of a scientist and everything! And it’s not like an oil company would ever do something actively misleading. I’m winking as I type this. Just letting you know in case you can’t see me.

These are just a few examples of greenwashing, but sadly there’s tons more out there. If you see statements from businesses bragging about how green they are, try searching the terms they use and see what comes up from trustworthy news sources. If it’s a load of greenwashing nonsense, call it out! Fake green initiatives designed solely to generate good PR absolutely deserve to be countered with negative PR.

If you see greenwashing, and can prove it’s greenwashing, yell at them for greenwashing! Shame is the only reason a lot of these companies are having to pretend they’ve gone green in the first place. If a little more shame is what it’s going to take to get them to actually go green, then shame away! For example, I’m still so ashamed of that ‘LIE-O plastic joke’ from earlier that I’m off to make a donation to eclologi. Bye!

Authors: Frances Withrow and Tom Stone.

I’ve always dreamed of being able to fly, even though I’m so unhealthy that I sometimes pass out just from thinking about walking. Luckily for slobs like me, mankind recently invented something called the ‘airplane’, a mysterious metal tube that can fly me all over the world if I ask it nicely. Hooray!

But unfortunately, flying is about as good for the environment as deep-frying the polar ice caps. That’s why I decided to play possibly the greatest piece of anti-flying art ever made, a ‘game’ called Airplane Mode.

This is a flight simulator that doesn’t let you anywhere near the cockpit. Because it’s trying to simulate the feeling of being a passenger on a commercial flight. Get ready to experience a two-and-a-half-hour fake flight in real time!

Once seated, you can engage in the usual pre-flight activities. Like admiring the runway, fiddling with the arm rests, turning the fans over your seat on, and trying to remember why you pitched putting yourself through this for a Climate Replay blog post. All while the captain apologizes for a delayed take-off. Delayed? Oh marvelous.

Let’s pass the endless time by looking at why flying is miserable for the environment, even though some of the statistics you can find make it seem not that bad. Like how air travel accounts for just 2.5% of global carbon dioxide emissions. But that’s only because a lot of people can’t afford to fly, due to our stupid inequality-riddled planet. It’s the 20% of the world’s population who can and do fly that are to blame for that 2.5% – and 2.5% is still bad!

According to this jolly BBC News article, “a return flight from London to San Francisco emits around 5.5 tonnes of CO2 equivalent (CO2e) per person – more than twice the emissions produced by a family car in a year, and about half of the average carbon footprint of someone living in Britain.” Oh no! I live in Britain! Wait, that’s not why that information is depressing.

Speaking of depressing, I decided to try and entertain myself in Airplane Mode by seeing what the screen in front of me has to offer. But I suddenly get interrupted by an unskippable safety video. I bought New Pokemon Snap on the weekend. It’s unopened. I’m ‘playing’ this instead:

Is the safety demonstration video short? No. It is not. Shall we learn more about why flying isn’t good for the planet instead of watching it? LET’S.

The struggle to decarbonize air travel is something we haven’t made nearly enough progress in. There are some interesting-sounding solutions on the way, like how Airbus have announced plans to have the first zero-emission aircraft by 2035, using hydrogen fuel cells. Nice idea, but according to several calendar experts I consulted for this story, 2035 is still 14 years away.  Electric planes will also likely be limited to very small aircraft due to the limitations of battery technologies and capacity. But you know what? That’s fine! Make a plane so tiny I can chuck it in the garbage! Because look what I’m still watching:

Finally, we take off. I find my bag under my seat, which contains a book, some headphones, and a packet of pills. I immediately take one of the pills without checking what it is, just in case you were curious about what level of geniuses are writing for this website. 

The bag notably doesn’t contain a Nintendo Switch, so I guess I won’t be spending my two+ hours taking candid photos of Pikachu throwing up outside a nightclub and selling them to the tabloids (is that what you do in New Pokemon Snap? Again, I wouldn’t know). Instead, I have to settle for the games available on the screen in front of me:

I sit back and do a Sudoku in the in-game magazine while listening to one of the in-game podcasts and actually start… enjoying… myself? No, really! I’d be lying if I said the experience wasn’t oddly relaxing. Airplane Mode definitely captures that boring-long-flight sensation of being held hostage by the few entertainment choices you have, so you actually give them a chance. 

Is that an achievement? Absolutely! Do I ever want to play it again? Um…

Speaking of the sky and legal grey areas, did you know that the international aviation sector was not included in the Paris Agreement on climate change? 65% of the aviation sector’s CO2 emissions are in international airspace and, therefore, do not necessarily “belong” to individual nation states. But without tackling aviation (oh, and shipping, another sector with international emissions) meeting the 2C or 1.5C warming limits of the agreement is going to be more difficult. That’s another win for the ‘don’t fly’ column.

And here’s another MASSIVE one – I missed the bit in Airplane Mode where someone gives me my virtual orange juice because I was too busy getting stuck on the sudoku puzzle. Is this the worst moment of my entire life? It’s certainly a contender.

I think the sleeping pill I took earlier is about to kick in, so let’s wrap this up. Flying is horrible for the planet and you should avoid doing it when you can. That, and we need to hold airlines accountable to reduce their greenhouse gas production. A lot of airlines have been promoting carbon offsetting, wherein customers can ‘offset’ the emissions their flight causes by supporting green projects that theoretically cancel those emissions out. While offsets have potential and support great projects, they also reek of greenwashing PR. They make airlines look like they’re doing a lot more than they actually are/should be, with investigations finding offsetting not nearly effective enough. There’s no such thing as a green flight and you should limit or avoid flying whenever possible.

Covid-19 has forced a lot of the games industry’s biggest events, like the Game Developers Conference, to move online. This doesn’t just dramatically reduce the amount of flying involved. It also lowers the barrier for entry for developers who might not be able to afford a flight and accommodation in San Francisco. That’s great news! We should be encouraging more of this.

Am I implying that I’m pro-Covid-19? Of course not. That’s just the sleeping pill talking. But I am pro “breaking down income barriers for gaming conferences” (try it! It’s a fun corner to stand in!).

Airplane Mode is available on Steam now. Give it a go, and permanently cure your love of flying!