Gaming out geoengineering

Greetings from the start of November 2026. I write this after two months of intense work: nearly nonstop travel, two book projects initiated, two seminars taught, a series of virtual presentations. And now November holds not only more travel, but the American midterm elections; I’m serving as an official for these in my city. So, among other things, I’m behind on this blog. Today I wanted to catch up by sharing a story about a game. Specifically, a simulation of political processes and decision-making around an escalating climate crisis. It’s fascinating as a simulation and scary as a forecast of how we respond to global warming. The Wired article offers a sketch of the game, hosted by Queen Mary University of London. The official report adds more details. It was designed by Danielle Young, assistant professor in international relations at Leeds University. It looks like a classic tabletop exercise. Participants included “a couple dozen foreign-relations experts, scientists, military…