Addicted to sowing crops and feeding animals on Farmville? Then there鈥檚 a new Facebook game for you, one that advances you based on the real-life, energy-saving actions you take to reduce your carbon footprint.
Set to a beach backdrop, eMission鈥攃reated by the Environmental Protection Agency鈥檚 and (a group aimed at getting teenagers and young adults involved and volunteering)鈥攁sks players to 鈥渂uild and save their habitat by completing offline energy-efficient and environmentally friendly actions that reduce greenhouse gas emissions.鈥
Some of these green moves include
- shutting down computers or putting them to sleep when not in use
- recycling plastic bags, aluminum cans, and other items
- taking a week-long hiatus from driving to use public transit instead
- swapping out energy-draining light bulbs for Energy Star-qualified compact fluorescent ones
Then the game takes your real world green actions and converts them to points. Or as Sophia Bush, star of the television show 鈥淥ne Tree Hill鈥 and campaign spokesperson puts it, 鈥淩educe carbon in the real world, score points in the game.鈥 Each action generates a snapshot of individual and cumulative energy savings so you can see your impact and encourage your friends to do the same.
鈥淧lus,鈥 adds Bush, 鈥測ou can win sweet eco-friendly prizes and college scholarships.鈥 (She鈥檚 not kidding. DoSomething.org offered five $2,000 eMission scholarships, but the deadline鈥檚 already passed.)
The game does require you to allow Facebook access to certain information in your account, so read through it carefully before signing up or before giving your children permission to play. Either way, it鈥檚 a creative means to get young people psyched about cutting their carbon footprint. For more info, go to .