Sustainable Development Goals and Trapped in Tucson

The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals are seventeen goals with associated targets and indicators agreed upon by the majority of the nations globally as a framework for creating a more just and sustainable world. The goals were one of my motivations for creating Trapped in Tucson and they are the basis for some of the education outcomes I hoped to create with this game. The following are the goals that I thought were relevant to the storyline.

SDG 1 - No Poverty

In Trapped in Tucson, most of the people remaining in Tucson are there because they couldn't afford to leave. There are also some people with the means to be able to live a self-sufficient, secure, and comfortable lifestyle. This dichotomy (and the possibility for a lifestyle that avoids these extremes) is something I wanted to explore through the game.

SDG 2 - Zero Hunger

A challenge even today in Tucson, how easy would it be to not only survive but thrive with only food that could be grown or gleaned in a climate change-distressed future Tucson?

SDG 3 - Good Health and Well-Being

Extreme temperatures, particulate pollution from dust storms and fires, and pollution-related stressors like elevated ozone levels would all pose health challenges in a future Tucson.

SDG 6 - Clean Water and Sanitation

Lack of water in a desertifying southwest United States would definitely pose a challenge. Would there be enough rainfall with shifting weather patterns? Would there be any access to surface or ground water? If water could be accessed, would it be safe to drink? This goal is one of the primary challenges in Trapped in Tucson.

SDG 7 - Affordable and Clean Energy

Could the extreme temperatures and sunlight be put to productive use? Could the systems be maintained to support long-term settlement? Another question I wanted to explore in this game.

SDG 8 - Decent Work and Economic Growth

While not central to the story, economic collapse is the motivation that finds you, the protagonist Trapped in Tucson and has left the city largely abandoned.

SDG 11 - Sustainable Cities and Communities

Some ideas that have fascinated me for many years are possible alternative governance and economic systems. There are topics that have been explored in numerous works by some of my favorite authors, like Cory Doctorow and Kim Stanley Robinson. If a community could survive or even thrive in the harsh environment of a climate-ravaged future Tucson, what might that look like?

SDG 12 - Responsible Consumption and Production

If a community were to thrive in the abandoned and ignored Tucson of the future, would it be based on something like a circular economy where there is no true "waste" in the process of producing and consuming? It's an idea that fascinates me even as it could apply to our current economy.

SDG 13 - Climate Action

In the future of Trapped in Tucson, it has become too late to avoid climate change - the challenge is adaptation. What opportunities and turning points were missed that could have avoided or reduced the impact?

SDG 15 - Life on Land

The stressed biome of a future Tucson is one of the things Trapped in Tucson explores. What would that look like? How bad would it be? For example, could temperatures have increased so rapidly that the iconic, but slow-growing Saguaro cactus wouldn't survive?

SDG 16 - Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions

How would society structure itself to provide security and justice to the members of society in response to a larger societal collapse? Mad Max or Little House on the Prairie?