Dev Blog 9 - The Grass-Roots Politician; Transitioning Our World From Within

//This Dev Blog was originally posted as an update on the Earth Rising Kickstarter on September 14th, 2021//

The Politics sector is headed by the Grassroots Politician. She has the ability to check the next two cards in the Social Influence deck, and rearrange them. Every sustainable practice within her sector allows her to check an extra card.

This ability is great for making sure the next few players will draw cards matching their sectors, or for shuffling Status Quo Strikes cards further into the deck so your team has longer to prepare!

What is Politics, and why is the Grass-Roots Politician its specialist?

The Politics sector is how we make decisions about how we want our society to run, and how we turn those decisions into law. The overwhelming majority of modern societies run through a form of democracy, designed to give a voice to everyone and prevent forcible rule by a powerful minority.

However not all democracies are the same, and achieve this goal with varying success. Sustainable politics is therefore vital to developing a sustainable society.

By ensuring fair representation and taking our focus away from GDP, along with enacting laws that protect and regenerate our world, we can use natural capital accounting to take real stock of what we have to work with. From here, we can track our sustainable development and make our society better for all.

The Grass-Roots Politician is the specialist of the Politics sector because “grass-roots” refers to the politicians that still focus on their local area, representing the people who voted them in as much as the party that they’re aligned with.

At its core, politics is about passionate people paving the way for a future they believe in, and representing others that think like they do so that changes can be made. Many political systems today make it very hard for people to be represented by those they truly agree with, but it can exist, and those passionate individuals can help our society become more forward thinking.

A Society That Looks Forward Is Prepared For What’s To Come

This is why our Grass Roots Politician looks into the deck and can rearrange what they find. By being in a position to discuss and adjust policy, and to work with people from a variety of sectors, they can better understand and predict what will be available in the coming years, and prepare the appropriate sectors for what is to come.

As with all sectors, Politics cannot work alone. The network of support created by all six sectors is necessary for change.

While we’re here, we’d like to say a big thank you to Jojo Mehta and Stop Ecocide for helping us with this sector of the game! As a powerful movement looking to make Ecocide an international crime, and making great progress, we were thrilled to work with them and hear their information about how our political systems can help us bring sustainability into reality.

We know that Politics is a subject that many have lost hope in, but it's important to recognise that it is a sector explicitly designed to involve the public and adapt to public pressure. Even if it resists this, remember that we are not alone. Join groups in your country who seek to make that change, and add your voice to theirs.

As Earth Rising shows, even in the event that we don't "win" in the time we intended to, just by acting we make our world better.

Want to read more on the characters of Earth Rising? Click their names below to jump to them!