‘Saving the planet with a card game’

| Marie Klinge

With a special game, the Shaping Expert Group Sustainability of the UT wants to draw attention to sustainable living. The initiative includes a workshop on 25 May. ‘Every new student should have this workshop at the start of their study.’

The card game can be purchased at the Union Shop, but it is also available for free during the workshops, explains Twan van der Ham, bachelor student Industrial Design Engineering and one of the initiators. ‘The workshops can be organized specifically for student associations, faculty groups, but general workshops are also organized for the university population, like the one on the 25th of May.’

Interactive

Carolina Pereira Marghidan, master student Spatial Engineering and also one of the initiators, refers to the origin of the game. ‘The card deck was developed by Mick Smyer from Growing Greener, an initiative from the US with the goal of shifting the attention from worrying to taking action.’ Van der Ham explains the setup of the game. ‘You draw a card and assign it to one of the three phases. The first is something you already do, the second something you would be willing to do, and the third something you would never do, or cannot do.’

During the card game everyone plays on their own but still interacts with their peers, Pereira Marghidan explains. ‘They wonder: What are others doing and what I can also do? Quite some studies show that telling someone about your plan, increases the likelihood of actual doing it.’

Actionable

The initiative comes from Green Hub Twente. ‘In the workshops we tie actions to local initiatives’, Pereira Marghidan says. ‘For example, when the card says, ‘buying local products’ we tell them suitable stores in the area.’ Van der Ham adds ‘there is a workshop tailored for students and adults with different versions of the card deck, based on their life situations. Every new student should have this workshop at the start of their study so they are immediately connected to local places, and it will get more of a habit to go there,' he concludes.                              

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