The interactive news-game Consumer Consequences sheds light on both the inefficiency and global harm we cause through the American lifestyle. This graphic game influences players and hopefully causes them to lead better lives to help save our wonderful and giving planet. American Public MediaTM, the organization backing the game, supports the idea that the modern American lifestyle is not sustainable for Earth in the long run.
American Public Media speaks through their game that we as Americans are leaving a huge negative ecological footprint. Scientists and their studies repeatedly inform America that we need to be greener or environmentally friendly. The game Consumer Consequences shows a numerical and thus logical reason why America needs to be greener by presenting how many Earths it would take to support our world's enormous population if everyone sustained an American lifestyle equal to the player's or the information he or she inputs. The game advocates more environmentally friendly ways of transportation, electricity usage and conservation, garbage reduction, recycling, food and its transportation, and shopping habits. The production and transportation of goods to the home and of garbage from the home consumes an astounding amount of gasoline and power. As a player selects his favored lifestyle through various screens, he or she watches as the Earth counter increases and the background of his or her virtual hometown changes from forest, grass, small buildings, and clear blue sky to factories, power plants, supermarkets, skyscrapers, and a more polluted and smoggy sky. The impact of seemingly minor utilities is drastically shown through this horrifying change. Through its graphics and statistics the game emotionally appeals to and logically urges Americans to live more environmentally friendly lifestyles through carpooling, recycling, using renewable sources of energy, and much more.
One of the major socio-political issues this news-game addresses is the huge environmental impact of the American lifestyle. From the graphic changes of displeasing factories, over housing, and pollution to the amount of Earths it would take to sustain over 6.6 billion people living like Americans, Consumer Consequences really shows the enormous environmental impact transportation, energy usage, garbage, and other everyday aspects of American lifestyle really harms the planet. The American Public Media, through the game, promotes recycling, carpooling, and energy conservation as major ways to reduce the size of our ecological footprint. There is much we as Americans can do to reduce our ecological impact, and this game promotes change in the way we live. With average American prices and values, such as gas consumption, travel and diet, input into the game, I found that with the whole planet living the average American lifestyle, it would take 6.1 Earths to sustain Earth's present population. Using very energy conservative and environmentally friendly values that were green but not too extreme, I was able to reduce the amount of Earths to sustain the whole world with that lifestyle down to 2 or 3. The fact that with more ecological lifestyles we can reduce our ecological footprint by at least 50 to 70 percent is an amazingly strong message that I hope other players realize too. A more subtle issue put forth by Consumer Consequences would be the effect the government can pose on regulating and restricting fuel inefficient cars and gasoline expenditures, coal and oil factories, and other possible measures the American government can take to help save our planet.
Consumer Consequences is a game with a large appeal to conserve our resources and reduce our ecological stamp on our planet. The game can reach many people and hopefully influence our government and leaders to promote more ecological lifestyles and commodities. America does not want our lovely planet to look like a wasteland of highways and factories pouring pollution into our air and sky. This game promotes keeping our planet away from this drastic downgrade that is very possible if we continue living this way.
