<h3>A Tour of Our Decaying World</h3>
Many animals are being affected by human actions such as climate change. Learn about the stuggles of all of these animals in order to move on to the next level.
<ul>
<li>[[Turtle]]</li>
<li>[[Polar Bear]]</li>
<li>[[Albatross]]</li>
<li>[[Rhinoceros]]</li>
<li>[[Manatee]]</li>
<li>[[Amazonian Animals]]</li>
</ul>
Animals visted: $animals
(if: $animals's length >=6)[\
Congratulations! You have visited all the animals. You can now move on to the [[next level->People]].
]
(set: $animals's 1st to "Turtle")
You are a sea turtle who has just been born.
There is a shiny light behind you and you want to go towards it.
(link:"Scuttle towards the light")[
You expect to reach cool water by now, for the shining light of the moon always leads turtles to the ocean. But you feel hard concrete under your flippers. Suddenly a horrifying (color:red)[sea gull] towering over you! You get scooped into it's mouth. But just before you are about to be eaten, another sea gull attacks and you get hurled into the ocean.
(link:"flash forward a few years")[
You've been swimming around eating jellyfish for years now. You see a nice white jellyfish waiting to be eaten. You bite it and it doesn't taste quite right, but no matter - jellyfish are food and you are hungry. You eat up the very tough and chewy jellyfish. A day later your stomach is churning, that wasn't a jellyfish you had eaten - it was a (color: red)[plastic bag]! A week later the (color:red)[plastic toxins] have coursed through your whole body, you die and sink to the bottom of the ocean.
<img src=http://assets.worldwildlife.org/photos/17519/images/story_full_width/Medium_WW260730.jpg?1563396025>
[[Return]]]
]
(set: $animals's 2nd to "Ploar Bear")
You are a polar bear who has been living in Canada your whole life. Every summer you head over to Quebec for food and then wait for the Hudson Bay to freeze over and then return back to Nunavut for the winter. But in the recent years (color:red)[it's been taking longer and longer for the Hudson Bay to freeze over], so you have been staying in Quebec farther into the end of the year.
(link: "Wait for the bay to freeze over")[
It's October and you're missing Nunavut and watching the northern lights but you have to wait around in Quebec for the bay to freeze over. Then a very peculiar thing happens, you're wandering around looking for a place to cross the bay when lots of young humans in strange costumes start wandering the streets. You're hungry but mostly homesick and wandering the streets looking for the bay.
<img src=https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/660/cpsprodpb/B04D/production/_86133154_nadinelamoureux_003.jpg>
(link: "A man with a black uniform and a flashlight is staring at you.")[The man has a shiny badge and a (color: red)[gun]. He is approaching you fast. You try to run away but it's too late, he's already fired. Within a second you've been hit and are drifting off to sleep...
[[Return]]
]
](set: $animals's 3rd to "Albatross")
You are an albatross. You wake up one morning, hungry and wanting some fish to eat. You spread your wings, proud of having the longest wingspan in the world. You fly out to where you heard from a mate there was a shoal of fish swimming about. You crash the ocean's surface in a perfect dive and snatch a nice big juicy fish. You swallow it whole and fly off to find another.
(link:"Check out the big swarm off fish in the gulf")[You're up in the air and you see a huge swarm of fish in the Gulf of Mexico.
You dive down.
You start choaking.
(color:red)[Oil] coats your feathers and lungs.
You can't fly, can't breathe, can't swim.
You feel the kind arms of a human trying to get the oil off of your feathers, beak, and legs. But it's too late. You die a few weeks later.
<img src=http://thepoetsgarret.com/2011Uploads/oilspill.jpg>
[[Return]]
]
(set: $animals's 4th to "Rinnoceros")
<img src=http://www.krugerpark.co.za/images/rhino-poaching-update-590.jpg>
You are a rhinoceros. You live with your heard in the savanah but (color:red)[your population is rapidly decreasing]. In the daytime you protect your child and fend off predators, though few dare to mess with your kind. At night you meet up with others at the watering hole, communicating with friends and nuzzling your partner. (link: "But something drastic happens the next morning")[
After a late night you rest up and then continue to stay with your child. Then, as you drink from the watering hole, you see a strange animal - too rectangular to be any you recognise. Before you can run back to the brambles or charge towards the unknown threat a (color:red)[bullet] hits you in the side. You stumble but you have tough skin. (color:red)[Another 7 bullets] and you're done for, though. Your last thought is for your child, a wish that they don't meet the same fate.
[[Return]]
]
(set: $animals's 5th to "Manatee")
You are a manatee living in the gulf of Mexico. You hang around Florida and spend your days bottom feeding and pretending to be a log. You are particularly good at being a log, as you have accumilated moss growing on you, providing extra camaflouge.
(link:"Be one with the log")[
You float in the boggy mudflats, you have just found a nice spot just deep enough to swim in and are showing off your perfect log imitation skills to no one because they all think you're a log. You swim down to eat some of the sea grass growing on the ocean floor. (link:"You hear a strange noise")[
You swim away from it but it gets closer: (color:red)[tourists] hoping to swim with a manatee on their summer break. You swim away from them, trying to escape the horrenous noise and spashing. They laugh and the ominous noise disperses into bubbles. You quickly swim into deeper water and they luckily don't follow after you.
(link:"But a new threat makes itself known")[
A louder, more terrifying noise can be heard now. And this one you've heard before: a (color:red)[motor boat].
You know that it is a threat.
You know you cannot out swim it.
You know only one way to deal with a threat like this.
(link:"Be a log!")[
You swim exactly still, mustering all your skill to become a submerged log. The boat swims over you and suddenly: pain. The (color: red)[blades of the motor boat] cut up your back, the searing pain is too much. You have so (color:red)[many scars from motor boats]. And this one is the last straw. You sink to the bottom of the ocean, your last thought is the wish that you knew how to do more than just be a log.
<img src=https://assets3.thrillist.com/v1/image/2519400/size/tmg-article_tall;jpeg_quality=20.jpg>
[[Return]]
]
]
]
]There are many problems this world is facing due to our own irresponisble choices about the environment. But there are some people who are trying to stop these things. Visit each of these powerful activists to learn what they are doing and how you can help them.
[[Greta Thunberg]]
[[Mari Copeny]]
[[Xiye Bastida]]
[[Ridhima Pandey]]
[[The children of Juliana v United States]]
[[Autumn Peltier]]
[[Artemisa Xakriabá]] (set: $animals to (a:))
(set: $people to (a:))
(set: $activists to (a:))
Welcome to A Tour of Our Decaying World. In this game you will take a trip around the world to learn about the crisis that is our planet, as well as the rays of hope provided by fierce activists and how you can help.
[[Begin the game ->Return]]Humans are the ones destroying the environment,b ut humans are also being affected too. In this level you will travel across the globe learning about people on the front lines of climate change.
<ul>
<li>[[Mali]]</li>
<li>[[United States of America]]</li>
<li>[[The Carribean]]</li>
<li>[[Philippines]]</li>
<li>[[Greenland]]</li>
<ul>
(if: $people's length >=5)[\
Congratulations! You have visited all the animals. You can now move on to the [[next level->Activists]].
]
(set: $animals's 6th to "Amazonian Animals")
There are more than 2,500 different recorded species of animals that live in the Amazon rainforest.
That includes: (link:"capybara")[(link:"anteaters")[(link:"iguanas")[(link:"tamarin")[(link:"anacondas")[(link:"frogs")[(link:"lizards")[(link:"kinkajou")[(link:"sloths")[(link:"river dolphins")
[(link:"macaws")[(link:"peanut head bug")[(link:"jaguars")[and so many more]]]]]]]]]]]]]
But the Amazon is burning.
<img src=https://media1.s-nbcnews.com/j/newscms/2019_35/2985041/190826-amazon-brazil-fire-cs-834a_eef05addd0d4dc77d766710fa90413d8.fit-760w.jpg>
There are large companies who want to use the Amazon for (color:red)[grazing fields] or (color:red)[plantations]. These corperations destroy the worlds more biodiverse ecosystem on the planet to make way for palm oil plantations. Converting biodiverse ecosystems into (color:red)[monocultures] of just one plant is very harmful. All the animals who called the Amazon their home die because they have (color:red)[no a place to live]. Not only that, but monoculture also makes the crop being harvested (color:red)[more suseptible to disease]. This means corperations have to use lots of (color:red)[toxic pesticides].
One of the ways corperations destroy the Amazon to make way for their agricultural pursuits is by a process known as (color:red)[controled burning]. Controled burns take a sectioned off area of rainforest and burn it so that plantations can be made on that land.
But some of these controled burns have gotten out of hand. And now (color:red)[the Amazon is on fire].
The firefighting effort on the Amazon is very minimal. Many countries have offered their firefighting services to Brazil (the country where most of the Amazon is located). But the president of Brazil has forbid them to help. The president of is named Jair Bolsonaro. Bolsonaro refuses to do anything about the fires, says that all deforestation reports are made up, and spends money on false ad campaigns about how Brazil is protecting the Amazon. He is doing all this because he (color:red)[cares more about the money] that comes from the cattle and soy manufacturing industries than about the health of the Earth, its animals, and its people.
[[Return]](set: $people's 1st to "Mali")
Mali is where the Bambara people live. The Bambara people are incredible farmers. They live in an area where it’s always very hot. The effects of climate change have increased this exponentially. (color:red)[The few rivers they once had have now been dried up.] Their soil has now dried to the point where no crops can be put into the ground, even if there was water. These people are dying as we speak. Very few of their children will make it past one year old. The next generation doesn’t exist, since this one is dying out. They are severely (color:red)[malnourished] and don’t have any means to get food other than growing it.
<img src=http://www.b4fn.org/fileadmin/templates/b4fn.org/upload/images/Recipes/Githeri.jpg>
[[Return->People]](set: $people's 2nd to "USA")
There are many places in the United States of America where climate change and other human caused climate disasters are affecting people.
(link:"California")[In California (color:red)[wild fires] are more common than ever. Partially because worsening droughts have created more and more (color:red)[dry brush] - the best fuel for wildfires. But the main <i>cause</i> of wildfires is electrical wires. The big corperations who are responsible for electircal upkeep have (color:red)[spent most of their money in the stock market and paying their CEOs], rather than investing in infrastructre. Now, the only way to prevent wildfires is via widespread blackouts.
<img src=https://s.abcnews.com/images/GMA/181110_gma_wildfires3_hpMain_16x9_992.jpg>
]
(link:"North Dakota")[In North Dakota, DAPL is a huge threat. DAPL stands for Dakota Access Pipe Line. This is a huge pipeline to transport oil from Canada to the United States of America. And, as the name implies, it runs through North Dakota. The indigenous people in North Dakota didn't want this pipeline to be made. Because not only was it going to increase the country's (color:red)[consumption of fossil fuels], the pipeline also destroys their native land and lives. The pipelines have to be built and maintained by work groups sent from the companies building the pipeline. Most of these work camps are composed entirely of men. Thus, the rates of (color:red)[sexual assult] spike when a pipeline is being built and maintained. This is just one of the many ways women are affected by climate destruction more than men.
<img src=https://i2.wp.com/www.nationofchange.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/DAPLTW.jpg?fit=826%2C620&ssl=1>
]
(link:"The South")[In Florida, Alabama, Louisiana, and Texas people are being affected by sea level rise and hurricanes. (color:red)[Hurricanes are becoming more common and more severe]. (color:red)[Sea levels are rising] because ice sheets in places like Greenland are melting. These glaciers are rising because of the rapid increase of (color:red)[greenhouse gasses] such as CO2 (carbon dioxide) and CH4 (methane) in the atmosphere.
<img src=https://media.pri.org/s3fs-public/styles/story_main/public/images/2018/11/houston_flooding.jpg?itok=L5AsNSLr>]
(link:"The Rockies")[In many states across the US snow fall is decreasing rapidly. Causing more (color:red)[droughts] and (color:red)[fewer skiable slopes] - a necessary commodity for cities which rely on tourism.
<img src=https://www.colorado.edu/ecenter/sites/default/files/page/water.png>
]
(link:"Alaska")[Alaska's Artic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) is up for dispute because there is oil there. But an (color:red)[oil pipeline] would disrupt the wildlife.
<img src=https://www.globalenergyinstitute.org/sites/default/files/ANWR%20Pic%202%20OPtion.jpg>
]
(link:"Oklahoma")[In Oklahoma earthquakes are now more common than they are in California. These are partially due to (color:red)[fracking] and partially due to (color:red)[mismanagement of waste water].
<img src=https://cbsnews1.cbsistatic.com/hub/i/2015/03/02/7ce6237c-06ac-4747-9e62-0dd1e6a25a5a/gettyimages478165587.jpg>]
[[Return->People]]
(set: $people's 3rd to "The Carribean")
In the Carribean hurricane season is getting worse and worse. (color:red)[Hurricanes are becoming more frequent and more severe.]
Some countries, like The Dominican Republic are relatively economically stable so they can recover from hurricanes.
Puerto Rico, in the other hand, is a commonwealth of The United States of America. They have to request aid from the country they belong to. In Puetro Rico's case, the US dealt with their problems the same way they dealt with problems in states that didn't just get hit by a hurricane. Thus, (color:red)[not providing adequate resources] to help the people of Puerto Rico.
Haiti is one of the most (color:red)[impoverished] countries in the world, due to a history of (color:red)[currupt leaders] their irresponible handling of money. Because it is a stuggle for the people of Haiti any regular time of year, hurricane season is especially bad for them.
[[Return->People]](set: $people's 1st to "Philippines")
The Philippines, and many other polynesian island countries, are experiencing (color:red)[record flooding].
<img src=https://images.theconversation.com/files/207479/original/file-20180222-152354-12adxpk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip>
[[Return->People]](set: $people's 5th to "Greenland")
Greenland is covered in huge ice sheets called permafrost and is surrounded by giant glaciers. Permafrost gets it's name because it is a permanant layer of frost. Or at least, it used to be permanant. Now, the (color:red)[permafrost layer is melting] - destroying the farming techiques used in Greenland. The glaciers are also melting. They are also calving, meaning the ice breaks and a huge ice berg is created. This is hazardous for fishing boats.
<img scr=https://thumbs.gfycat.com/DimNaturalGrouse-size_restricted.gif>
[[Return->People]]Greta Thunberg lives in Sweden and is 16 years old like many of us. She is a climate action activist and she also has Asperger’s syndrome which is a version of autism.
Because political leaders aren’t doing much about climate change, thus stealing the future for young people, Greta wanted to not go to school as a strike. She compromised with her parents and teachers, who let her strike every Friday but go to school the rest of the days. So on Fridays she sits outside of her school with a sign that says Schoolstrike for Climate written in Swedish and has paper explaining why she is striking.
Because cars produce a lot of greenhouse gases Greta takes public transportation, that way her activism doesn’t have side products which harm the environment she is trying to protect. However the form of transportation with the most greenhouse gas emissions is flight. She has refused to go anywhere by plane. So when the United Nations asked her to come to New York she went on a carbon emmisions free boat. When she went on a roadtrip across the United States she used a tesla.
While Greta understands that people can rarely take a boat instead of a plane when traveling, she does urge other young people around the world to strike with her. Some people strike every Friday. But there are also larger strikes held less often, in which young people gather at political buildings to strike.
(link:"Greta has Asperger’s syndrome, a version of autism.")[Greta has Asperger’s syndrome, a version of autism. This means she doesn’t have any learning disabilities but rather has a harder time in social situations and can be easily overwhelmed. Most people think of autism as a disability which makes things harder, Greta is a stronger activist because she is neuroatypical. Because Greta takes things much more literally than most people, she has no tolerance for the hypocrisy that politicians use to get around dealing with problems. She is stubborn and judges people based off of their actions, rather than their words. This is one of the traits that make her such a strong activist.]
This is what Greta said to the political leaders at the UN Climate Summit: (color: green)["This is all wrong. I shouldn't be up here. I should be back in school on the other side of the ocean. Yet you all come to us young people for hope. How dare you. You have stolen my dreams and my childhood with your empty words. Yet I am one of the lucky ones. People are suffering. People are dying. Entire ecosystems are collapsing. We are in the beginning of a mass extinction, and all you can talk about is money and fairy tales of eternal economic growth. How dare you!"]
[[Return->Activists]] Mari Copeny is 11 years old. Mari is on the front lines helping kids to embrace their power through equal opportunity. When the Flint Water Crisis began in Flint instead of feeling helpless Mari decided to use her voice to help out her community and to fight for the kids in Flint and she has not stopped since.
(color:green)[“I’m 11. My generation will fix this mess of a government. Watch us.”]
[[Return->Activists]] Xiye Bastida grew up in the Mexican town of San Pedro Tultepec embracing the Otomi indigenous belief that if you take care of the Earth, it will take care of you. (color:green)[“Earth is our home. It gives you air, water and shelter. Everything we need. All it asks is that we protect it.”]
Nearly five years ago, after her town suffered prolonged drought followed by heavy rainfall and pervasive flooding, Bastida realized that something was disrupting Earth’s natural balance. (color:green)[“Our lake was drying up because we didn’t have any rain. We live with the cycles of Earth, and for rain to not come when it’s rainy season — that’s crazy. When it doesn’t rain, the land gets dry and we depend on the land. It’s our support system. Then we had massive amounts of rain that wouldn’t stop.”]
It took a little while for her to make the connection between these extreme weather events and climate change, but once she did, she became galvanized. By then, she and her family also had relocated to New York City, and, after a visit to Long Island — where she saw the still-lingering damage left by Superstorm Sandy — she became convinced that (color: green)[“wherever you are, the climate crisis is affecting everyone, everywhere,” she said. “I felt like I needed to do something.”]
[[Return->Activists]] Ridhima was nine years old when she filed a complaint against the Indian government, in March 2017, with the National Green Tribunal. The tribunal looks into cases that are related to the environment and came into effect, in 2010, with the National Green Tribunal Act.
India is more susceptible to climate change impacts and Ridhima sued the government because of its inaction in tackling climate change issues in India, in spite of knowing these facts. Her case stated that the Indian government’s policies and laws were not enough to mitigate climate change and keep to the limits set by the Paris Agreement.
Ridhima wants the court to order the government to assess its industrial projects for climate-related issues, prepare a “carbon budget” and create a national climate recovery plan.
In an interview with The Independent in 2017, she said, (color:green)[“My government has failed to take steps to regulate and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, which are causing extreme climate conditions. This will impact both me and future generations. My country has huge potential to reduce the use of fossil fuels, and because of the Government’s inaction, I approached the National Green Tribunal.”]
In addition to her demands for strong action, she also wants the government to move away from fossil fuels, protect forests, grasslands, soil, mangroves, engage in massive reforestation and improve agricultural and forestry practices.
[[Return->Activists]] Kelsey Juilana is a lawyer in Oregon who is leading a class action lawsuit against the United States of America on the premise that the government hasn't been doing enough about climate change and this is taking away the constitutional rights of life, liberty and property.
Most of the kids in her lawsuit are from Oregon like her, but here are also some from other states:
Levi Draheim is 9 years old. He is the youngest person in the case and he lives on a barrier island in Florida. (color:green)["If the sea rises, our home could just be underwater.]
Jamie Lynn Butler is 15 years old. She lives in Arizona. She originally lived on the Navajo reservation she was born on but she had to leave because of searing droughts. (color:green)["Because of the drought on the reservation and climate change there's less and less water. I don't want the nex generation, and this, generation, to keep loosing things because of how we treat the planet."]
Journey Zephier lives in Hawaii. (color:green)["We are in a climate emergency. The federal governnment and fossil fuel industry have known for over 50 years that their actions and the burning of fossil fuels would result in destabilizing the Earth's climate system."]
Nathan Baring is 16 years old. He lives in Alaska. (color:green)["The Arctic is being affected more than twice as fast as the Lower 48. We have the technology to make the change. It's the politics that's keeping us from it."]
Xiuhtezcatl Martinez is an indigenous climate activist, hip-hop artist, and powerful voice on the front lines of a global youth-led environmental movement. At the early age of six Xiuhtezcatl began speaking around the world, from the Rio+20 United Nations Summit in Rio de Janeiro, to addressing the General Assembly at the United Nations in New York city. (color:green)["Youth are standing up all over the planet to find solutions. We need you to take action. We are all indigenous to this earth."]
Victoria Barret is 17 years old and lives in New York. She is in the lawsuit because (color:green)["it's pertinent to literally the existence of humankind."]
[[Return->Activists]] Canadian Indigenous water activist Autumn Peltier, 15, addressed hundreds of international guests at UN headquarters in Manhattan on Saturday, where she urged the global community to respect the sacredness and importance of clean water.
(color:green)["I've said it once, and I'll say it again: we can't eat money or drink oil,"] said the activist from Wiikwemkoong First Nation on Manitoulin Island in northern Ontario.
She said she's been taught traditional knowledge from an early age about the sacredness of water, and that more people should learn these lessons.
(color:green)["Maybe, we need to have more elders and youth together sitting at the decision table when people make decisions about our lands and waters."]
Peltier called for an end to plastic use as one step in restoring a more sustainable world.
She was named the chief water commissioner by the Anishinabek Nation, a political advocacy group for 40 First Nations across Ontario, when she was just 14 years old.
[[Return->Activists]] Artemisa Xakriaba is 19 years old. She is an indigenous climate activist of the Xakriabá people who live in Brazil. She spoke about the increasing intensity of environmental destruction across Brazil and the interconnectedness of the fight for climate justice. (color:green)[“We fight for our Mother Earth because the fight for Mother Earth is the mother of all other fights. We are fighting for your lives. We are fighting for our lives. We are fighting for our sacred territory. But we are being persecuted, threatened, murdered, only for protecting our own territories. We cannot accept one more drop of indigenous blood spilled.”]
[[Return->Activists]]