“Asset Manager Quest” Game Targets Idiotic Fossil Fuel Investments

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A gaggle of “serious people,” together with somebody who calls himself Oli Frost, have devised a easy laptop recreation known as Asset Manager Quest that makes use of a Raspberry Pi laptop to spoof the actions of Abrdna wealth administration firm based mostly 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 approach simpler than Pac-Man and about as advanced as Pong. (If you happen to had been born after 1972, now we have included a useful Wikipedia post 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 an excellent option 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 approach too severely. William Shakespeare set most of his performs in international international locations like Denmark (Hamlet) or Italy (Julius Caesar and fairly just a few others). Within the Bard’s time, saying disparaging issues concerning 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 Wonderlandwhereas Gilbert and Sullivan’s The Mikado had nothing in anyway to do with Japan and every little thing to do with Jollye Olde Englande.

Oli Frost took his transportable 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 approach smarter than anybody else and didn’t need to be proven why they’re blithering idiots and fools. The group made a video of their adventures. That is one thing you positively need to look ahead to your self.

Based on We Don’t Have Timea 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 selections that stability revenue with sustainability, exhibiting how managing assets could make or break the planet’s future. It’s a recent and entertaining option to get folks fascinated by the position that companies, investments, and even on a regular basis decisions play within the local weather disaster. Oli’s recreation is one other instance of how he takes severe subjects and makes them partaking. It’s a intelligent option to get folks concerned in conversations about sustainability whereas protecting them entertained — and it simply would possibly make asset administration the following huge factor within the local weather combat!

On his websiteFrost 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 possibly can hearken 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 gasoline corporations 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 every single day 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 effects the pollution related to extracting and burning of fossil fuels have on real people. The Asset Supervisor Quest recreation was performed by over 600 workers at Abrdn till administration banned its workers from taking part in it. Individuals typically don’t have any humorousness when their fats compensation packages are beneath risk.

When Is A Subsidy Not A Subsidy?

Final month, Michael Barnard addressed the issue of fossil fuel 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 a variety of arguments about this, Barnard says. Lots of people attempt to fake 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-about to be subsidies, and it’s a giant bag. They discuss direct subsidies, that are those everyone thinks about — giving cash to the fossil gasoline trade.

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

And, after all, there’s the massive kicker within the room, the destructive 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 destructive externalities for the financial, human well being, and environmental impacts they trigger.

The Takeaway

Humor can lower the largest stuffed shirt right down to dimension, 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 really do one thing about fossil gasoline air pollution as an alternative of hiding it within the pantry together with your cupcakes. Tell us if the sport has any influence in your world view. It ought to, however then once more, some individuals are simply not teachable. Have enjoyable!