A Thriving Planet?

A Thriving Planet is a 3d simulation of the Earth meant to demonstrate and educate about the effects of climate change on our planet. You play as a visitor from the future that has returned to the past in a space/time ship to our present, when the Earth is at a pivotal moment in time that can either ensure a thriving planet for the future, or doom the future generations to a warm planet that results in environmental and social catastrophe. You will learn what it will take humans to solve this crucial issue and visit current examples of climate change in action.

   The goal is to use Unreal Engine  with the Cesium Plugin (a physically scanned representation of the entire world) to explore our planet and discover if it is thriving or not, and what we can do to save the only planet humans currently inhabit.  The goal of the project is to build a platform to geolocate interactive VR experiences and gamified data related to issues of sustainability.  This platform can be used in education, research, or game environments by teachers, students, developers and researchers from across the globe.

See how A Thriving Planet? is being used in an educational setting.

https://sites.google.com/view/climate-change-game-design/home

We make heavy use of data from

• O’Neill, D.W., Fanning, A.L., Lamb, W.F., and Steinberger, J.K. (2018). A good life for all within planetary boundaries. Nature Sustainability 1, 88-95. doi: 10.1038/s41893-018-0021-4

Visit the University of Leeds website for more info: https://goodlife.leeds.ac.uk/

This project was created as a submission for the 2021 XR Brain Jam