Opinion: Climate gamification: How a double-edged sword could be our last hope for real change

Shaurya Mittal

March 2

Hours before my family sheltered our evacuated friends, I watched as a powerful fire painted our Southern California skies a burnt orange tone, while a heavy, smoky ash fell like raindrops.

The historic wildfire prompted myself as well as thousands of Americans to ponder how to stop climate change's recent reign of terror; the fires, floods and droughts were becoming all too much to bear. It dawned on me that the best solution had already been discovered; only greed continues to hold it hostage.

A wildfire in Palmdale, Calif., billowing smoke. (Photo by Polina Kuzovkova on Unsplash)

Gamification is a simple idea that takes a previously qualitative goal, like to "be healthy," and transforms it into something quantitative, like a daily step goal, which increases dopamine production. In turn, it incentivizes the human brain to keep doing a certain task, like taking the stairs instead of the elevator to garner more steps. The end result is the same, better health, but the means are more understandable and enjoyable.

Interested groups discovered gamification long ago. Practically every app and website uses some form of gamification to increase user retention and increase profit. Schools use it to increase their students' attention.

Gamification can even be used in concerning ways, such as in the case of companies like Uber that allegedly used gamification to manipulate their drivers. Regardless, the undeniable consensus remains that gamification is a powerful tool to motivate people to things that they would have a hard time of doing otherwise.

Using gamification to tackle climate change would be extraordinarily simple with today's technology. Large tech companies could pull it off in a heartbeat using a minute percentage of their resources. A simple application that tracks a few facets of users' lives could realistically produce a sort of "score" that tells the user how environmentally friendly they are.

This tool would be extremely difficult to monetize; hence, it has yet to be developed. However, if we as humans were to put our greed aside and develop a tool for the greater good, we could help people understand how to better use their time and resources to help the environment before it's too late.

Recently, the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change reported that in the next decade Earth's average global temperature will increase by 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit (1.5 degrees Celsius, which will have devastating effects across the planet.

Given such reports are still not enough to galvanize lawmakers to take action, it is time that we focus on amplifying the power of our individual actions to stop climate change. And I'm not talking about posting an Instagram story with a graphic about recycling.

While "performative environmentalism" is better than nothing, it still lacks the broad changes that are needed to make a real-world impact. The world needs true and sustained motivation to capitalize on recent trends of environmentalism, and gamification could provide just that.