Chevron’s suspect device

Think running an Oil Major is so easy? Chevron challenges you to run power policy for just one city (willyoujoinus.com). Of course, establishment assumptions are hardwired in this Simms-style distraction. I immediately set strict conservation goals for Gangstaland and drag and drop as much solar and wind as allowed. Of course, nothing really gets started until I plant that offshore refinery.

Gaming for score exposes my hypocrisies. While I accidentally haul out a dastardly nuclear plant, I’m giddy when a national dump opens ahead of schedule. Not only do I now have somewhere to cart my deadly waste, but my score improves immediately. Growth is a given here, and solar typically isn’t viable until 2015. Most importantly, the true environmental costs of traditional energy development don’t come calling here. One can only hope that 2.0 includes a truer impact of militarized oilfields halfway around the world; Climate Change’s food scarcity recipe and sea level rise; and global health and wealth inequities. In the time it takes the world to gobble up another 880,000 barrels, I score 24,949th out of a supposed 661.7 million players.

My takeaway? Time for Chevron to quit making stupid PR games. Time for the rest of us to quit playing along.