by Portia Yip, Marketing Services

Climate change isn’t always easy to talk about. For many, it can stir up emotions, spark anxiety, or lead to avoiding conversations altogether.

Those who want to get involved may not know where to start, or what actions to take that will be most effective. One approach? Turning climate change into a game.

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Turning climate change into a game

This is what Marty Donatelli did while taking the Introduction to the Human Dimensions of Climate Change course through Continuing Studies at UVic. “I think many people hear too much about the climate crisis and its consequences, and not enough about the effective, positive actions that people can take,” he shares.

In the course, learners are tasked with creating a project that applies what they learned to the real world. For Marty, the course was a positive experience. He enjoyed the course content, engaging in the readings, and weekly interactions with peers. But the icing on the cake was the final project. “I was really excited that I was able to take an interest of mine—game playing—and find a way to apply it to this course,” he describes.

Drawing on his background in teaching positive psychology at Camosun College—and his belief that people learn best when they are in a positive mindset—Marty decided to design a card game for high school students.

“When people are having fun, they're more open-minded, and the best way to have more fun is through play and being with other people,” says Marty. “So, that's where the idea of a card game came from.”

Global Winning: a cooperative card game for climate action

The game, Global Winning, encourages students to work together to fight climate change. Players collect and trade solution and resource cards, then use them to implement climate solutions. Each time a solution is played, the game’s “global temperature” goes down. If players can keep the temperature below 1.5°C by the end of the game, everyone wins.

Marty’s creative project resonated with course instructor, Dr. Kara Shaw. After the course ended, Kara received funding to support student projects that could benefit the community. She immediately thought of Global Winning. Together, the two started refining the game and now have a prototype that’s ready for playtesting.

Marty hopes the game will help students not only understand climate solutions but also feel less anxious about the future. “I chose high school students because they’re going to be our future leaders and decision-makers. They’re also the generation most affected by climate change,” he explains. “There’s a lot of climate anxiety among young people today, and I wanted to show them that effective actions can be taken.”

But the game is more than just educational, it’s about connection. Global Winning is designed to be cooperative, requiring students to work together face-to-face.

“If we’re going to address the climate crisis, people need to come together and collaborate,” says Marty. “By making the game cooperative, we’re mimicking what’s necessary in real life and how solutions happen when we work together.”

Empowering students and building climate resilience together

With printing and distribution supported by the funding, the project is moving closer to classrooms. As early as this fall, high school students may be gathering around tables, playing Global Winning, and discovering that climate action can be both empowering and fun when approached together.

For anyone else interested in trying out the game, Marty says he is open to the idea of loaning out a copy. “While it’s currently targeted at high school students, hopefully, everyone will have a chance to play this game in the future.”

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• Posted December 1, 2025