Welcome to The Greenhouse
Growing up, we have all been scolded by our parents for leaving on the lights or not turning off the TV. We need to conserve energy they said. This is how we will do our part to battle climate change they said. Here at the Greenhouse, we want to dispel that myth and bring the inconvenient truth about Global Warming to the masses.
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Turning off the lights |
It Takes More Than A Village |
While turning off the lights and using high efficiency appliances makes us feel good, in our day to day lives it will not help us meet our need to reduce global emissions and fight climate change. We need to do more. It is not easy, but it is necessary.
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If we really want to make a difference, we need to rethink our energy sources. Where is our power coming from? Fossil Fuels that pollute and damage? Or Green Energy that is sustainable and renewable? We must as a society quickly and urgently switch to cleaner forms of energy
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Climate change is happening, humans are causing it, and I think this is perhaps the most serious environmental issue facing us.
-Bill Nye
Project Overview
Our goal is to teach users that half measures will not be enough and it will take more than individual action to change the course.
In our game, players begin by walking up to the game. The game will sense if a potential player is close and will start playing a welcome mode to entice them to play the game. Once a player inserts their LEAF the game will start anew with the LCD displaying the current year and the thermometer displaying a low temperature. Throughout stage 1 random appliances will turn "ON" with increasing frequency. The player tries to turn them off to stop the temperature from going up. However, after 30 seconds it will become obvious that the user's action have no effect and the temperature rises nonetheless. This is meant to teach the user that individual action by turning off appliances will not be enough to fight climate change. |
Upon completion of the stage 2, a trapdoor will open up containing a handheld generator. The household appliances will remain on as they were but now in the background lights illuminating both a power plant and solar panels / wind turbines will turn on. The user will crank the generator to increase light going to the renewable sources and decrease the light illuminating from the power plant. As the user will see, doing this vigorously will prevent the thermometer from reaching the critical temperature. Thus, through effort and determination we will be able to change our energy sources and combat climate change.
This game is not meant to have the most optimistic message, and nor should it be. Climate change is the greatest crisis we face as a species and we cannot sugar coat the need for drastic change. |