'Minecraft' Mod Fosters the Collaboration Of Climate Change

A Minecraft modder has introduced new game-related issues for players to tackle in the form of climate change. Nick Porillo's GlobalWarming mod alters the atmosphere according to certain actions, such as smelting ore. Temperatures will rise as carbon emissions increase and can cause violent storms, forest fires and the loss of snowfall as climate change becomes more prevalent.

Planting trees to absorb carbon dioxide could aid in reducing the effects of climate change. To tackle the issue on a bigger scale you can purchase carbon offsets, which give other players a tree-planting bounty to complete -- that reflects one of the mod's concepts of working together to combat climate change.

"If the majority of players aren't willing to be carbon-neutral in the way they play the carbon score will only continue to rise in-game. When the damage has a negative impact on the players, they will begin to pay back the debt' they accrued," Porillo told Motherboard. "The idea is that players should make an extra effort from the beginning, so that they don't release a lot of smoke, and to avoid paying the ultimate price."

He is planning to add additional features, like a scorecard that lets you know who the most carbon-neutral players are, figuring out your own carbon footprint and adding methane as a third greenhouse gas.  Minecraft This mod is compatible with Minecraft Server Java Edition. It is available for download from GitHub.