OOC: I've been getting a few questions about who the high profile NGOs who endorsed this game here. I don't know how many of these are reocognisable outside of the commonwealth, but I'm certainly familiar with a few.
I'd been hearing the rumors about it for years and written it off as one of the urban myths of the environmentalist community. A consortium of oil companies (and don't buy any of that crap about them being "energy" companies, in their perfect world they'd be drilling oil until doomsday) making clandestine offers to high profile environmentalists, the mother of all faustian bargains - money and influence on a scale unimaginable by present standards, so long as we let them keep drilling and burning enough oil to keep their shareholders handy.
I can't say exactly why, of all the many, many people they asked, I was the one who ended up accepting their offer.
It's complicated. I can't say if I'm crazy, foolish or weak for accepting (although there's no shortage of pundits willing to do so) but if I were to put it down to one thing it was frustration. I'd been spending the entirety of my professional life as an environmental activist and had a hard time looking myself in the mirror and believing I'd achieved anything worth a damn. The oil companies had been cockblocking everything important I'd ever tried to do and I'd grown tired of fighting them. Maybe co-operation and compromise really was the way forward.
The thing they never tell you about making a Deal with the Devil is the loneliness. Just about everyone I thought was a friend deserted me, even people who I thought I saw eye to eye with. Turns out that while it's OK to think that maybe getting in bed with the oil companies wasn't such a bad idea after all, it's just supposed to be a thing one says in the depths of despair but doesn't really mean. Actually doing it is another matter entirely.
Never mind. I may have burnt a hell of a lot of bridges, but they can always be rebuilt. One thing I know from all my years in the activism business is that it's top heavy with people who have grandiose plans for spending money who haven't devoted a moment's thought to how they'll get it in the first place. I might have to spend a little more on sophisticated accountants to make sure my "filthy oil money" gets where it needs to go while letting everyone save face, but shotness of memories and shortness of cash have a tendency to go hand in hand.
For now, though, all I've got is the work. In a way, being so free of distractions is helpful because it's a lot of work to do. Thanks to my organisation being a pariah, I'm going to have to get started by setting up a network of front organisations. The question is where I need to best focus my energies.
For now, I need to cast a wide net so I can get a hold of as much information as I can. So I've recruited an agent for every territory. I'm blowing most of my budget on human resources, but getting a hold of lots of information early allows me to anticipate problems and have a better chance of preparing for them ahead of time rather than reacting.
Heaven knows it's cheaper that way. Checking the global stats, we're pumping more than enough oil to keep my sponsors busy, so energy issues can take a back seat for the time being. Now I need to have a look at the economic stressors all the regions are having so I can identify the bottlenecks and see if there's anything I can do about them.
North America's fine (surprise, surprise). So I'll leave them be for now. Same goes for Japan.
Europe's freaking out a little bit about water stress issues. By first world standards, they're not so bad. For now, at least. Still, I'd better nip that one in the bud while I can.
There's definitely big water stress problems in North Africa
, Middle East
and India
. Those three areas will need to have that sorted out pretty quick or the food supply's going to get screwed up. Unfortunately, all those regions of the world are also suffering from some serious political instability, so that's going to need to get sorted out first. China are also having water stress issues and are nice and stable so I can get onto that right away.
So for now it seems the go is to set up political front organisations in Africa, Middle East and India and environmental fronts in China and Europe. The only other bottlenecks I can see is lots of sick people in South Africa
and Russia
, so I've set up a welfare agency in Russia to get onto that. Even though their situation isn't as dire as South Arica, my agent there already has his hands full setting up the political front, so I'll fight what battles I can for now.
So, it appears that global warming is going to be accelerating even ''further'' than expected.
Well that's just dandy, isn't it? Meanwhile, Europe's new energy discovery puts them as a potential candidate for energy research, once I get the budget for that sort of thing.
As expected, the stability situation in Africa, Middle East and India have got worse. Fortunately, my boys there haven't been wasting their time and have embedded themselves nicely with local militas. I've given them the resources needed to grease the necessary palms to make sure those militas are keeping their heads down and co-operating with government law enforcement rather than shooting at each other and government forces. Time will tell how that one works out.
Political instability seems to be contagious, most of it motivated by economic hardship, I've noticed. Austerity protests are happening almost the world over. But it's counterproductive because political instability causes a flight of investment from the region. So far about the only region that seems halfway sane is Oceania.
Seems like a good place to put the HQ if you ask me. The sooner I can stop operating under cloak and dagger pretenses, the sooner I can really start making a difference.
My budget's a little bigger this year, so I can afford a few more agents and offices to focus on problem areas. As I see it, Russia, Africa, The Middle East and India are the ones screaming at me the loudest to get off my ass and help them and I figure it pays to listen. For now, it's all I can do to get them to open up some more fronts, mainly welfare, so that once the political situation gets stabilised, I can hit the ground running. If they don't get it sorted in the next five years, I think I'm going to have to start doing the unthinkable and funding black ops from these milita organisations.
Japan did something really cool.
If I haven't established a tech office there, I really should get off my ass and do it. This smart grid technology could make renewables more able to handle a base load. Just because the oil companies own my ass doesn't mean I can't do something about coal.
Maybe I've just been hanging around Randal Monroe too much lately, but I've decided to start a space program based in Australia.
In a way, it's perfect. They've got access to a wide variety of latitudes suitable for a different number of launch scenarios, most of the country is desert where they can conduct their business in peace and Australians have the combination of high levels of education and suicidal disregard for personal safety that make for perfect astronauts. There's no way in hell any sort of halfway decent lifestyle is going to be sustainable in the long term on a single planet, so we need to do what we can to get our eggs in more baskets and quickly.
South Africa finally has much needed political stability, so I can get going on improving their quality of life. That one's a no-brainer. They need more investment in health education like I need oxygen. Northern Africa refuses to stabilise so it's time for me to get my hands dirty and give the go-head for black ops. Same goes for the Middle East, where the security situation likewise refuses to get any better. God help me.
China and India are both having smog issues, so I'll see if promoting forestry growth does anything to stymie that. I'm also funding AI research in Japan. So if we end up being ruled by a cruel race of robot overlords who violate us with mental tentacles for giggles, you know who to blame.
I've recruited another agent in South Africa. I don't have the money in my budget to let him do anything yet, but since this is a region of the world where I could potentially do the most good right now, it'll be worth it later on.
Global oil production has peaked.
Well, aren't my bosses going to be just thrilled at that development. I'm guessing that if I don't start capitalising on that European drilling research that was discovered a while back that everyone decided to sit on their ass about, I'll be out of a job very quickly.
Japan's come through for me again, looks like someone managed to get Carbon Capture to work.
That'll make keeping the oil barons happy without pissing off the climate change activists a slightly less fraught balancing act.
Southern Africa is finally stabilised. It's time for me to be a good guy there and see if I can fund some research to finally get all the damn pandemics under control. The Middle East remains a basket case warzone and so does Northern Africa. Well, fine, no more mister nice guy.
Down in Oceania, the options given to me by the space nerds are...strange. I guess I should have expected no less from those crazy bastards. They suggest either to attempt manned missions to Mars with a view towards long term colonisation, or a SETI program in the hope that we might contact aliens who could potentially help us out...if we live long enough for them to get here. I gave the go-ahead for the latter option.
That way, if the AI research from Japan ends up causing a Robot War, then a little alien backup might be just what we need. That or humanity gets caught in the crossfire of a two-way war over who gets to enslave us. Note to self: Fund development of video game based on this premise in order to get a bit more discretionary funds.
South Asia is growing ever more problematic. Although I've got the political situation under control there now, the impact of climate change is hitting them harder than just about everyone, due to all the trade winds and low-lying islands. I've beefed up my presence there a bit accordingly. Japan's also got a second agent now, since discontent over economic issues is becoming potentially troublesome. A welfare office might be just the thing, although I'm wondering if maybe I should have done that in Latin America instead.
Good news, everyone! The Middle East finally has political stability! Ha! And Noam Chomsky said it couldn't have been done...don't tell me you don't know who he was...well, he did die a couple of decades ago, admittedly. Never mind. Now that's sorted I can hopefully do something about the water situation I've been trying to deal with since...well, since Noam Chomsky died.
Europe's unlocked the possibility of expanding oil production. For now, production levels are enough to keep my bosses happy, but it's nice to know I have that option available if I do need it. For now, I'll fund some tech startups there since things are otherwise pretty chill.
Latin America, as I predicted, is becoming unstable. Recruiting a second agent to start up a welfare agency there is another no-brainer.
Japan finally got the bomb. Fortunately, the Bushido ethic remains safely dead and buried, so I don't see why the pundits are getting their knickers in a twist about it. About the only thing that could wake it up would be saber-rattling from China, and I've been working on keeping them too fat and happy to bother with such a thing.
For now, things seem to be improving, except for India and Northern and Southern Africa, where HDI indicators stubbornly refuse to improve. India's on a downward spiral I have to do something to arrest.
Oil production is up again!
Well, I hardly imagined my sponsors were just going to sit on their asses and do nothing while the shareholders threatened to lynch them. But at least now I can focus on trying to improve the situation in Africa and India.
I've boosted my presence in those regions to 4 agents. I fear I may be doing to little, too late. Public sentiment against my organisation is close to murderous in those parts of the world and judging by the news reports I'm a hair's breadth from being kicked out entirely. Not that it will help matters, but I've got used to being a conventient scapegoat for now. I just hope that the medical research I've comissioned in the region will end up working out for me.
Oh great, Uranium is running out, too. Yeah, everyone laughing at me for starting a space program a few decades ago doesn't think it's so funny now. India is on the verge of political crisis. Japan's come up with a wonderfully clever means to mitigate global warming. I'll need to get right on that one.
Limited resources are starting to become a problem. Again, I say, you laughed at me back when I said we needed to expand into space. Of course, I should probably give the go-ahead for that mission to Mars, but I'm eternally being distracted by the troubles in India and Africa.
Speaking of India, it's a good thing I hired an extra agent there last budget cycle. Word is, we just lost a good man.
Frankly, I've had it with that place. It's degenerated into anarchy and I'm quite OK with declaring martial law there. Much of the rest is very much "Steady as she goes". I have a whole bunch of irons in the fire with regards to technological investment, and the rest is just a matter of keeping people from killing each other and kicking me out of my country while I wait for the R&D to pay off.
And, it's official, we're banned in India.
Our missing agent remains missing, presumed dead by now. There's typically news articles about it every anniversary of his disapperance. (OOC: This means this attempt is pretty much a write-off by this point, as India's HDI languishes at a miserable 0.48 and I'm now powerless to do anything to improve that before I reach the deadline of 2080. So now I'm just going to try and learn as much as I can from this playthrough).
The good news keeps coming, with more deaths, this time from the Mars project astronauts.
In one fell swoop I have a death rate that compares slightly unfavourably with the Soviet space program. I don't even want to tell you what the political cartoons look like. Still, I'm not going to let that stop me. Continuing decline in resources makes colonisation efforts even more urgent than before.
Latin America's become my new troublespot, so I've recruited another agent to take measures to improve relations there before they end up kicking me out, too. Otherwise, I'm doing my best to mitigate resource shortages and extreme weather events. I'm also trying to roll out aerosol schemes in as many of the wealthier nations as I can, in the hope of getting the warming under control.
Japan's hit it out of the park again in terms of increasing renewable options. Given that coal becomes increasingly scarce, this is just the sort of news I need to hear right now. Of course, I already bet the farm on aerosols rather than getting smartgrid tech rolled out, so now I feel just a little bit stupid on that front.
The coal shortage continues unabated. If I don't change focus to nenewables or Uranium soon, it's going to put the brakes on the economy in a big way.
It's not all bad news, though. The North American materials research I sponsored a while back has finally borne some fruit.
Hopefully something that will let me make some good out of the whole situation. The Europeans have been busy with research of their own, based on exploiting the methane which has been making the whole climate situation a great deal worse.
I'm not feeling too good about that one, actually. Consider me a biofuel sceptic.
More good news! We landed on Mars sucessfully this time.
Consider Plan B to be a go-go. And on top of that, GM crops which will reduce the environmental impact of agriculture considerably.
Unfortunately, the financial crisis has done terrible things to my budget, so for now all I can do is roll out the improved drilling technology to as many places as I can in the hope of mitigating the resources shortages.
In retrospect, I should have realised the market wasn't going to take care of itself.
Japan, meanwhile, finally made some serious progress in their AI research. This has caused some serious chickens to come to roost, however. Even the Japanese don't like the idea of self-aware machines taking their jobs.
Well well, India finally let me back in.
Too late, though. I mentioned chickens coming home to roost. The bosses are displeased with my failure to sufficiently grow developing markets.
I'm out.
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