Planet Earth is a closed system. All living things depend on the same thin life-giving envelope of land, air, and water. Today, as just one of thousands of life forms, more than four billion human beings are each trying to eke out a comfortable existence on this fragile surface.
What is the carrying capacity of the planet? Can four billion people manage a decent standard of living without squandering our nonrenewable resources or polluting the sources of the renewable ones? What new pressures will be added by additional human passengers? And what after that?
In trying to deal with such questions, we have come to realize that planning is essential-not just to achieve a better quality of life, but indeed for survival itself. But in trying to plan, one of the first difficulties we encounter is the fact that what we desire as individuals may run counter to what we need as members of human society. We strive for jobs, homes, vacations, and material goods and comforts. We consider such things important to the quality of our lives. But in gaining them, we use up our scarce stockpile of resources, and we poison our delicate life-support systems. In other words, we pay a price in environmental quality for what we achieve in material comforts.
In this simulation, you will encounter this very basic dilemma. Can we plan for a decent standard of living and still protect the quality of our environment?
SCENARIO. You live in a simple economy made up of Producers, Consumers, Resource Developers, and Environmental Planners. Here the producers make things out of resources and sell them to consumers. Consumers work at a job, earning money to buy and consume products. The resource developers invest money in mines, oil wells, forests, farms, and water in order to develop resources, which they sell to producers. The environmental planners worry about the quality of the environment and the quality of life, and try to modify the economic system to achieve their goals. You will be assigned one of these roles. You will need a copy of the Tables to proceed.
Consumers. Consumers are paid for making work tokens which they print in clear block letters to look like this:
Although all of the consumers make the same type of work token, some consumers are paid more. This reflects the fact that people in different occupations earn different amounts of money and therefore belong to different socioeconomic classes. In this game there are six different types of consumer labeled "a, b, c, d, e, and f." The wages paid to each type are given in Table 1.
Once you are assigned to a particular consumer type, you keep this identity throughout the game. Your goal is to achieve as satisfying a life for yourself as possible-your success will be determined by how many "Quality of Life" tokens you can gain.
Here's how you proceed: You make your own work tokens. If you are an "a" consumer, you can turn these in every time you have completed four work tokens and you will be paid $40. Notice that c and d consumers can turn in three tokens for their income amounts; e and f can turn in two tokens. (You cannot turn in tokens except in those numbers.)
When you have the right number of tokens, turn them into the bank so you can be paid. Use your money to buy goods from producers. There are four different kinds of manufactured goods: food, shelter, fuel, and clothing.
Determining your life-style: As you buy things, you want to make up a complete Quality of Life market basket. Different ways of achieving this are shown in Table 2. Every time you have completed a market basket, take your package to the bank and you will receive a Quality of Life token. The consumer who has the greatest number of these tokens at the end of the game is the winning consumer.
Each consumption pattern reflects a different conception of a good life. Think about each, and choose whichever you want or think you can achieve. You can change patterns any time during the game; in fact, you may find you'll have to in order to fill a market basket.
Producers. Producers make money by putting together products which they sell to consumers. You'll be given $40 to start with. The products you can make are shown in Table 3, but you must specialize in only one of those products.
To manufacture your product, put together the right number of resources (colored note cards) with a paper clip.
You will have to buy your raw materials from a resource developer for the lowest price you can manage. Put the product together and sell it for the highest price you can get. (Starting prices are suggested in the table, but you're not limited to those.) Be sure to identify your product--for example, if you have put together one green card and two white with a paperclip, you should write Food plainly on the top card, using your colored pen. (If you don't take this step, someone is likely to beat you out by counterfeiting.) The winning producer is the one with the most money at the end of the game.
Resource Developers. As resource developers, your function is to sell raw materials to producers (you can't sell directly to consumers). You will use your money to invest in resource exploration and development. You'll be given $40 at the beginning of the game. Since different raw materials exist in the environment in different amounts, the costs and risks will vary. With luck and some bargaining skill, you can develop resources and sell them to producers for the highest price you can get. The developer with the most money at the end of the game is the winning developer.
Here are the rules to follow: You can develop only one resource. If you decide to go into minerals (yellow cards), you must stay with that. However, where scrap is involved (which we'll explain in a minute), you can explore for other raw materials.
To explore for a resource, go to the "mine site" and buy an exploration lease. You're allowed one roll of the die to see if you've made a "strike" (see Table 4). If you fail, you have to buy another lease to try again. When you've made a strike, you'll receive the raw materials which you can then sell to producers for whatever price you can get.
So, if you chose to go into minerals (yellow), you would pay $15 for a test lease. By rolling a "1" or a "2," you would have a strike that would allow you to develop (sell) 40 percent of the remaining yellow cards. Suggested starting prices are listed in the table, but these can be changed.
Dealing in scrap: Resources will dwindle. As they become harder to obtain, you might want to explore the scrap resources that exist within the system. (These are items that have been "consumed" and discarded; they will be stamped by the Recycling Planner, "For Deposit Only.")
Any resource developer can purchase and sell scrap to producers. You can reassemble it into usable piles, use the clean sides of cards, and take off the paper clips. (Only resource developers can put scrap together this way.)
To test for usable scrap, you will follow much the same procedure as with raw materials. Go to the "recycling center" and try for a "strike" according to Table 5.
Environmental Planners. Environmental planners are chiefly concerned about the quality of life. Clearly, the more resources the system has, the better off the people are. However, increases in the number of people or increases in consumption cause a decrease in the quality of life. The environmental planners' job, then, is to try to maintain a high stable quality of life. Your principal indicator for the quality of life is given by the following equation:
Q= total value of resources developed divided by total value of products consumed
As environmental planners, you are in charge of the resources. To try to regulate the quality of life, you can:
You cannot change commodity prices, however, either for raw materials or for goods produced.
You constitute the Environmental Planning Board which should meet every 15 minutes. Assess the situation and decide on strategies for maintaining stability and quality. In addition to your group function, six different planning tasks must be divided between you. These assignments are:
You are in charge of distributing raw materials, and will be stationed at the table labeled "mine site." Resource developers will come to you to purchase test leases. The prices are listed in Table 4, but your group planning board can change these fees when they think it necessary.
Each time a test lease has been paid for, let the developer roll the die once, to see if he or she makes a "strike." When a strike is made, issue the correct amount of the particular resource.
The resources are limited. If a strike provides a developer with 40 percent of the yellow, the next strike will still yield 40 percent, but from a reduced total. You can use Table 6 to keep track of the resources used and still available. Whenever a strike is made, cross out the appropriate figure on the chart; the next figure in that column will show how much to distribute for the next strike. When you've made that second distribution cross it off.
Every 10-15 minutes, the Environmental Monitor will announce the start of a new trading session. Draw a line across the resource columns and calculate how much of each raw material has entered the economic system during the last round. Give this information to the Resource Reporter.
Along with the product reporter, your task is to calculate the Quality of Life indicators. Use Table 7 to make your calculations.
You'll need several copies of the table. Ask each resource developer how much he or she is charging for developed raw materials. Record the figures. Go to the mine site and find out how much of each raw resource has been developed during this trading period. Multiply the amount times the price for each item and enter the value of each resource produced. Add your figures in the last column to determine the total value of all resources produced in this period.
Enter your final total figures (value of resources developed) in Table 8. The product reporter will provide you with the total value of products consumed. If you divide the total value of resources by the total value of consumption, the Figure Q is your Quality of Life indicator. Table 8, then, enables you to tell at a glance how the Quality of Life indicator changes with each round.
At the end of each round, write the Q score on the chalkboard so that everyone can see it.
By keeping track of the products consumed, you and the resource reporter will be keeping the records which indicate the society's quality of life. Here is the procedure:
The Banker will provide you with figures at the end of each round indicating how much of each product has been turned into the bank (consumed).
During the round itself, go to each producer and find out how much they are charging for their products. Record this on Table 9. Then multiply the amount consumed by the market price to get the total value for each product. Add up these figures to get the total value of all products consumed for that time period, and enter it in Table 8. You and the resource reporter can then determine the Quality of Life indicator (Q) by dividing the total value of resources developed by the total value of products consumed .
As environmental planner and banker, you have a number of important assignments. These are to:
You are in charge of the recycling center. The banker will give you all materials consumed during the previous round. Stamp each item, "For Deposit Only."
Resource developers can come to you to buy a test lease and take one roll of a die to see if their venture is successful. If it is, provide them with scrap as indicated in Table 5. You might want to try to encourage recycling by making announcements of available scrap.
Your role is to oversee and in a sense manage the game. Specifically, your tasks are to:
Return to the main document.