Cape Town – Providing a unique way to engage with climate change, a new book launched from the popular online climate-fiction (cli-fi) game “Survive the Century” aims to educate readers about climate change and how their choices can affect their future.
Developed by Sam Beckbessinger, Simon Nicholson and Christopher Trisos, the story is a work of fiction informed by real science, as each pathway in the story has been co-developed by fiction writers with natural and social scientists and climate policymakers, illustrating the real consequences and choices likely to face humanity in the coming century.
Using stories to illustrate real science, climate scientist Dr Christopher Trisos said the book intends to offer readers of all ages a sense of how much impact they have on the future climate by examining the power of their choices and decisions.
“People often view climate change as too big or too far away, and that understanding future climate change is a job for scientists. This book aims to give readers of all ages a sense of how much influence we have over future climate change by exploring how the serious or wacky choices we make today will influence the future. It does this in a way that is playful and funny, but it is based on real science,” said Trisos.
While hoping that the book can act as an engaging tool for educational contexts, author and game creator Samantha Beckbessinger said the project also came out of a collaboration by sitting together with like-minded people concerned about the future.
“Writing can be lonely. It was such a refreshing change to work on something so collaborative. So many people were involved in this project, from illustrators and publishers to sci-fi writers to marine biologists, epidemiologists, political scientists, economists, and climate modellers. The climate emergency impacts everything, everywhere. It was fascinating to learn about how different disciplines are thinking through what a changing climate is going to mean for the world,” said Beckbessinger.
Providing full-colour illustrations in order to bring life to different climate change futures, Arthur Attwell, who was in charge of the layout, said he used colour to his advantage so that the reader can be engaged with the story and its purpose.
“When we came to designing the layout, we were inspired by the idea of making something that was both a book and a game. What is ‘bookness’ and ‘gameness’, and where do they overlap? The process was deeply collaborative: the creative lead, designer, and developer spent hours around a table with laptops and paper everywhere. And we wanted to keep the reader smiling all the time: every colour, font, and placement was carefully chosen to make you smile as you create your own story,” said Attwell.