EARTH FORTUNES is a playful journey to explore some of the ways energy systems can affect our lives. If you are excited, worried, or unsure about future energy systems, Earth Fortunes—conceived as a series of tarot cards outfitted with augmented reality (AR)—enables you to ‘predict’ the planet’s future. The AR component was created using the Global Change Analysis Model (GCAM), developed by the Joint Global Change Research Institute, and a set of long-term scenarios, otherwise known as the Shared Socio-economic Pathways (SSP), to model possible socio-economic and environmental futures. SSP’s are used by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), as well as governments and research-groups globally. To learn a bit more about how GCAM informed the Earth Fortunes project, please click this link.
What planetary pathways can already be foretold?
At SQUARE, Earth Fortune cards were available throughout the space: by pointing a phone or tablet camera at one of the cards’ QR codes, students gained access to the tarot card’s AR component; participants then heard a fortune teller whisper about their future via their headphones. Drawing cards in any number of combinations prompts reflection on our current energy crisis, and the ways in which we might conceive of energy systems, including energy transition, differently.
Earth Fortunes Team Members
Additional collaborators include Evan Arbuckle.
