Video game tests your skills in a climate change apocalypse

A new video game pulls inspiration from the nostalgic 1980s game ‘Oregon Trail’, but adds a futuristic twist.

Called ‘Climate Trail’, refugees travel through a world destroyed by climate change while encountering dangerous scenarios, such as heatwaves and melting Artic ice, until they reach a safe zone in Canada.

Characters in the game will also stop along the path to share scientific facts about global warming, sea level rise and greenhouse gas emissions throughout the game.

In ‘ Climate Trail ’ refugees travel through a world destroyed by climate change while encountering dangerous scenarios, such as heatwaves and melting Artic ice, until they reach a safe zone in Canada

The Oregon Trail became a hallmark in elementary schools in the 1980s and was designed to teach children about the lives of 19th-century pioneers as they traveled across the United States in search of a better life.

The player assumes the role of a wagon leader guiding a party of settlers from Independence, Missouri, to Oregon’s Willamette Valley via a covered wagon in 1848.

Now, in an effort to bring more awareness around climate change, game developer William Volk has brought the nostalgic game back to life, as reported by Earther.

Players walk through the Climate Trail as refugees, who start at a camp in Atlanta, Georgia with the hopes of making their way to Canada.

Along their journey, players face starvation, heatwaves, intense weather events and other climate change events.

When characters reach a city in the game, the find crumbling buildings, undrinkable and empty stores – setting the stage of an apocalyptic world.

Although Climate Trail echoes many similarities of Oregon Trail, it is laid out like a story – rather than one, continuous scene.

There are three different difficulty levels in the game, moderate, significant, and highest, which are based on climate scenarios with different global temperature increase — 7.2 degrees Fahrenheit for moderate, 9 degrees Fahrenheit for significant and 10.8 degrees Fahrenheit in the harder level

Although Climate Trail echoes many similarities of Oregon Trail, it is laid out like a story – rather than one, continuous scene

And players will be shown scientific information on global warming, sea level rise, greenhouse gas emissions and feedback loops.

Climate Trail is free for download on iOS, Android, Windows and Linux.

When characters reach a city in the game, the only find crumbling buildings, potentially dirty water and usually empty stores – setting the stage of an apocalyptic world

Although Climate Trail echoes many similarities of Oregon Trail, it is laid out like a story – rather than one, continuous scene

Climate Trail may just be a video game, but the threats are real as it is starting to kill Americans.

A new study has found that about 900 deaths, 21,000 hospitalizations and $10 billion in added healthcare costs were attributed to climate-sensitive events in 2012 alone.

The new findings have suggested that climate change is not just an environmental issue, but ‘represents a major public health emergency’ in the United States.

en climate-sensitive events that hit 11 US states in 2012 were analyzed for the study published in journal GeoHealth.

Along their journey, players will face starvation, heatwaves, intense weather events and other climate change events

The team examined wildfires in Colorado and Washington, ozone air pollution in Nevada, extreme heat in Wisconsin, infectious disease outbreaks of tick‐borne Lyme disease in Michigan and mosquito‐borne West Nile virus in Texas, extreme weather in Ohio, impacts of Hurricane Sandy in New Jersey and New York, allergenic oak pollen in North Carolina, and harmful algal blooms on the Florida coast.

WHAT DO EXPERTS PREDICT FOR THE FATE OF THE PLANET’S PLANTS AND ANIMALS?

Nature is in more trouble now than at any time in human history with extinction looming over one million species of plants and animals, experts say.

That’s the key finding of the United Nations’ (UN) first comprehensive report on biodiversity – the variety of plant and animal life in the world or in a particular habitat.

The report – published on May 6, 2019 – says species are being lost at a rate tens or hundreds of times faster than in the past.

Many of the worst effects can be prevented by changing the way we grow food, produce energy, deal with climate change and dispose of waste, the report said.

The report’s 39-page summary highlighted five ways people are reducing biodiversity:

– Turning forests, grasslands and other areas into farms, cities and other developments. The habitat loss leaves plants and animals homeless. About three-quarters of Earth’s land, two-thirds of its oceans and 85% of crucial wetlands have been severely altered or lost, making it harder for species to survive, the report said.

– Overfishing the world’s oceans. A third of the world’s fish stocks are overfished.

– Permitting climate change from the burning of fossil fuels to make it too hot, wet or dry for some species to survive. Almost half of the world’s land mammals – not including bats – and nearly a quarter of the birds have already had their habitats hit hard by global warming.

– Polluting land and water. Every year, 300 to 400 million tons of heavy metals, solvents and toxic sludge are dumped into the world’s waters.

– Allowing invasive species to crowd out native plants and animals. The number of invasive alien species per country has risen 70 per cent since 1970, with one species of bacteria threatening nearly 400 amphibian species.

‘Applying a consistent economic valuation approach to published studies and state estimates, we estimate total health‐related costs from 917 deaths, 20,568 hospitalizations, and 17,857 emergency department visits of $10.0 billion in 2018 dollars, with a sensitivity range of $2.7–24.6 billion,’ reads the study.

Since 2012, annual temperatures have continued to rise, and the five hottest years on record globally have all been in the last five years.

While the U.S. experienced $11 billion weather disasters in 2012, that total was exceeded in 2016, 2017, and 2018, according to data gathered by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

The NOAA annual extreme weather cost estimates do not include health costs.

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