“Asset Manager Quest” Sport Targets Idiotic Fossil Gas Investments – CleanTechnica – TechnoNews

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A bunch of “serious people,” together with somebody who calls himself Oli Frost, have devised a easy pc recreation referred to as Asset Supervisor Quest that makes use of a Raspberry Pi pc to spoof the actions of Abrdn, a wealth administration firm primarily based in Scotland that’s closely concerned in funding the fossil gasoline trade. Above is a screenshot of the opening screens within the recreation, which is method simpler than Pac-Man and about as complicated as Pong. (If you happen to have been born after 1972, we’ve got included a useful Wikipedia put up that explains that recreation.) In an odd twist, the creators of Asset Supervisor Quest styled their recreation console to resemble the one utilized by Pong.

Humor is a superb solution 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 method too severely. William Shakespeare set most of his performs in international nations like Denmark (Hamlet) or Italy (Julius Caesar and fairly a number of others). Within the Bard’s time, saying disparaging issues in regards to the royals was punishable by having your head minimize 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 the whole lot to do with Jollye Olde Englande.

Oli Frost took his moveable recreation console to Abrdn headquarters, the place he was rudely dismissed with all of the pomp and circumstance we might count on from individuals who suppose they’re method 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 undoubtedly wish to look ahead to your self.

In response to We Don’t Have Time, a local weather advocacy group that we maintain in excessive regard right here at CleanTechnica’s posh international 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 stability revenue with sustainability, exhibiting how managing sources could make or break the planet’s future. It’s a recent and entertaining solution to get individuals serious about the function that companies, investments, and even on a regular basis selections play within the local weather disaster. Oli’s recreation is one other instance of how he takes severe matters and makes them participating. It’s a intelligent solution to get individuals concerned in conversations about sustainability whereas retaining 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.” If you happen to go to his website, you’ll be able to take heed to a number of of his songs, which have been downloaded thousands and thousands of instances. Right here’s an instance:

Frost has additionally created a pretend advert company to lampoon the stalwarts within the advert world who shamelessly shill for fossil gasoline corporations as they wrestle to make them cute and cuddly as a substitute of the rapacious atmosphere destroyers they are surely. These individuals go to work daily with their heads held excessive to allow them to money their huge paychecks on the finish of the week whereas exhibiting no regard for the consequences the pollution related to extracting and burning of fossil fuels have on actual individuals. The Asset Supervisor Quest recreation was performed by over 600 workers at Abrdn till administration banned its workers from enjoying it. Individuals typically haven’t any humorousness when their fats compensation packages are beneath risk.

When Is A Subsidy Not A Subsidy?

Final month, Michael Barnard addressed the difficulty of fossil gasoline 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 gasoline air pollution — complete greater than $7 trillion yearly.

Let’s begin with what are subsidies? There’s plenty 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 together 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 gasoline trade.

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

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 minimize the largest stuffed shirt all the way down to measurement, one thing Kamala Harris and her crew are utilizing to their benefit. So mess around with the Asset Supervisor Quest recreation and see how straightforward it may be to truly do one thing about fossil gasoline air pollution as a substitute of hiding it within the pantry along 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!