“Asset Manager Quest” Recreation Targets Idiotic Fossil Gas Investments – CleanTechnica – Uplaza

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A gaggle of “serious people,” together with somebody who calls himself Oli Frost, have devised a easy pc sport referred to as Asset Supervisor Quest that makes use of a Raspberry Pi pc to spoof the actions of Abrdn, a wealth administration firm based mostly in Scotland that’s closely concerned in funding the fossil gas business. Above is a screenshot of the opening screens within the sport, which is means easier than Pac-Man and about as advanced as Pong. (Should you have been born after 1972, we have now included a useful Wikipedia submit that explains that sport.) In an odd twist, the creators of Asset Supervisor Quest styled their sport console to resemble the one utilized by Pong.

Humor is a superb technique to expose pomposity and stupidity on the highest ranges. The historical past of literature is chock filled with satire that pokes enjoyable at individuals who take themselves means too significantly. William Shakespeare set most of his performs in international international locations like Denmark (Hamlet) or Italy (Julius Caesar and fairly a couple of others). Within the Bard’s time, saying disparaging issues in regards to the royals was punishable by having your head lower off within the Tower of London. Jonathan Swift and Lewis Carroll lampooned the monarchy in Gulliver’s Journeys and Alice In Wonderland, whereas Gilbert and Sullivan’s The Mikado had nothing in anyway to do with Japan and every thing to do with Jollye Olde Englande.

Oli Frost took his transportable sport console to Abrdn headquarters, the place he was rudely dismissed with all of the pomp and circumstance we might anticipate from individuals who assume they’re means smarter than anybody else and didn’t wish to be proven why they’re blithering idiots and fools. The group made a video of their adventures. That is one thing you positively wish to look ahead to your self.

Based on We Don’t Have Time, a local weather advocacy group that we maintain in excessive regard right here at CleanTechnica’s posh world headquarters excessive atop Mount Olympus, “Oli Frost, known for his quirky climate crisis songs, has taken his creativity to the next level with his latest project — a video game about asset management. But don’t let the topic fool you — this isn’t your average finance simulator. In typical Oli fashion, he’s made managing assets fun, while also raising awareness about climate change.”

The sport challenges gamers to make choices that steadiness revenue with sustainability, displaying how managing sources could make or break the planet’s future. It’s a recent and entertaining technique to get folks eager about the function that companies, investments, and even on a regular basis decisions play within the local weather disaster. Oli’s sport is one other instance of how he takes critical matters and makes them participating. It’s a intelligent technique to get folks concerned in conversations about sustainability whereas conserving them entertained — and it simply would possibly make asset administration the subsequent huge factor within the local weather battle!

On his web site, Frost says, “I’m Oli Frost, the guy who makes novelty songs about the climate crisis. Greta Thunberg did the macarena to one of them. My work has been featured everywhere from UK Parliament to Britain’s Got Talent, BBC to Fox News, in music festivals, art shows, and on bins. Most recently: I’ve been mesmerizing people, won a climate song contest, and made a video game to annoy fossil fuel financiers.” Should you go to his website, you’ll be able to take heed to a number of of his songs, which have been downloaded hundreds of thousands of occasions. Right here’s an instance:

Frost has additionally created a faux advert company to lampoon the stalwarts within the advert world who shamelessly shill for fossil gas firms as they wrestle to make them cute and cuddly as an alternative of the rapacious surroundings destroyers they are surely. These folks go to work day-after-day with their heads held excessive to allow them to money their huge paychecks on the finish of the week whereas displaying no regard for the results the pollution related to extracting and burning of fossil fuels have on actual folks. The Asset Supervisor Quest sport was performed by over 600 staff at Abrdn till administration banned its staff from taking part in it. Folks usually don’t have any humorousness when their fats compensation packages are below menace.

When Is A Subsidy Not A Subsidy?

Final month, Michael Barnard addressed the problem of fossil gas subsidies. The Worldwide Financial Fund says direct and oblique subsidies — poorer well being is one such oblique subsidy since society as a complete has to pay the prices of well being look after these affected by fossil gas air pollution — whole greater than $7 trillion yearly.

Let’s begin with what are subsidies? There’s a number of arguments about this, Barnard says. Lots of people attempt to faux that lessons of subsidies aren’t precise subsidies, they’re one thing else. However Michael prefers to go along with the Worldwide Financial Fund definition. From 2010 to 2015, they normalized what they thought of to be subsidies, and it’s a giant bag. They speak about direct subsidies, that are those everyone thinks about — giving cash to the fossil gas business.

They speak about oblique subsidies, which is placing a cap on retail costs or under-pricing fossil fuels on the gasoline pump or paying customers a payment to allow them to purchase extra fossil fuels. Additional, we’ve acquired foregone income the place taxes are lowered on fossil fuels, so the federal government isn’t gathering cash. These are all fiscal preparations which can be straight associated. Lots of people attempt to exclude oblique. That’s an inappropriate alternative.

And, after all, there’s the large kicker within the room, the unfavorable externalities. A few seminars in the past, we talked about carbon pricing and carbon pricing schemes world wide. That may be a course of that costs unfavorable externalities for the financial, human well being, and environmental impacts they trigger.

The Takeaway

Humor can lower the most important stuffed shirt all the way down to measurement, one thing Kamala Harris and her group are utilizing to their benefit. So mess around with the Asset Supervisor Quest sport and see how simple it may be to truly do one thing about fossil gas air pollution as an alternative of hiding it within the pantry together with your cupcakes. Tell us if the sport has any affect in your world view. It ought to, however then once more, some persons are simply not teachable. Have enjoyable!