Parata: A Story of Climate Justice

Practice: The Climate Justice Game is a thought-provoking game on the problems caused by climate change through practices in daily life. It raises concern over the impacts of climate change on people from different segments and socioeconomic levels of the society; and creates a foundation to discuss and explain the concept of “climate justice” based on the expected experience to be gained at the end of the game.

The game takes place in an island country called Parata in 2070. An imaginary island country, Parata used to be rich in natural assets and agricultural lands. The narrator (facilitator) explains to the participants in detail how Parata goes through changes over the years due to climate change. A detailed story of Parata is shared in the document titled A Detailed Story of Parata.

• To play the game, there should be 1 narrator and at least 12 participants.
• The narrator is expected to have thorough information on the situation of Parata in 2070 and its historical background. Therefore, they must read its detailed story and determine the potential points to highlight before starting the game.
• The narrator reads out Parata’s historical background and situation in 2070 clearly and fluently. If a projector is available in the gaming area, the narrator can use it to project the summary information so that the participants can easily remember it. Please refer to the documents A Summary of Parata’s Overall Situation and A Summary of the Overall Situation in 2070 for summary information on the general situation of Parata and the problems related to climate change in 2070.
• Once the narrator finishes reading, each participant selects one role card at random. The role cards have information about people with different income, ethnic origin and status. There are 12 different role cards in total. You can randomly increase the number of role cards when you play with more than 12 participants. Please refer to the document Role Cards for information.
• Once the participants get their role cards, have them consider the reality of what’s happening in their lives in 2070 and give them 3 minutes to review their role card and backstories of the people on the card. Their roles will be read out and they will then be asked to give Yes/No answers, deciding their answers according to the person on their role cards. Therefore, it is important to foster an environment of reflection. In this process, the narrator can inspire them to reflect on their roles by asking the questions below.

• How was your childhood? How was your house? What kind of games would you play? What did your parents do?
• How is your daily life right now? In what environments do you socialize? What do you do in the morning, afternoon and evening?
• What kind of life do you have? Where do you live? How much do you earn per month? What do you do in your free time? What do you do on holidays? What are the things that excites you? What are the things that frighten you?
• Would you like to be another person?
• What do you think about environmental protection?

Important note: Participants do not tell their role to other participants.

• The narrator must read the following 11 lines at the end of the three-minute period. They need to pause after each reading each line. Players need to evaluate the lines based on their own roles. Each participant needs to respond with a “Yes” or “No” to the lines below. Participants who said yes take a step forward and those who said no are required to remain in their place for that round.

• You can access clean water sufficient for yourself and your family.
• You can access basic food sufficient for yourself and your family.
• You can financially afford to relocate to a safer region if climate crisis grows as to treating the living environment (e.g. rising water levels).
• You have the financial power to build a shelter in the event of a sudden hurricane.
• You have the financial power to buy a more robust house that’s about 1.5 more expensive than normal to protect against climate change.
• You can abandon the region and get yourself to a safer area without needing guidance from anyone else in the event of a natural disaster.
• Aside from the sudden weather events, global warming and the climate crisis do not affect your everyday life practices.
• You still have access to healthcare services to protect against epidemic diseases spreading due to global warming.
• You’re not worried about the future of your children, believing you can give them enough cultural and economic advantages for their future.
• You can look after yourself better for your personal development compared to how it was 20 years ago.
• Climate change have wiped out the local kiwi production in Parata, where it used to be abundant, but you can afford the pricier kiwis from the imported products section of your regional market every Thursday.

Important note: Due to the differences in role cards, there may be participants who step in all of the 11 situations, or there may be participants who do not take steps in any case. Once the narrator has read all of the 11 situations and everyone has reacted, each participant may be at a different level in the field of play.

Suggestion: Tapes that represent 11 steps can be placed upon the floor before starting the game so that the steps of each participant can be of equal length.

• The narrator must ask about the opinions of each participant at the end of the game and keep asking how they feel. While the participants share their thoughts and feelings, links with current situations, associated with climate change, can be established to emphasize if there any similarities between the imaginary situation and real ones.
• The narrator raises awareness of the concept of “climate justice” as the participants share their opinions on how and why the problems caused by climate change affect individuals in different ways.
• You can debrief the story since it would be inconvenient to explain the whole story especially in outdoor workshops, and instead choose to print the overall info on 1×1 meter papers. Click here for a summary: A Summary of Parata/ Parata 2070

Important Note: It is important for the leading volunteer to act with care during discussions on gender, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status when evaluations are being made about the roles.

Implementation and arrangement: Efe Baysal (350 Türkiye), Çiğdem Akça, Deniz Nazari Ersoy (TEMA)