About Us
The Goal of Climatopia™ is to Teach Climate Resilience to All Ages
About Us
Climatopia™, developed by Professor Rachel Willis, Sydney Thomas, Alex Pistiolis, and students from various semesters at UNC, is an innovative fabric game and resource backpack designed to help people of all ages plan for, face, and recover from climate change-enhanced natural disasters. The service-learning aspect of the course connects academic learning with community service, enhancing students’ understanding of climate change impacts through showcases at conferences such as the Makerspace and CleanTech summit.
The Creation:
Climatopia™ was created and developed by: Professor Rachel Willis (American Studies), Sydney Thomas (UNC 2021), Alex Pistiolis (UNC 2021) & Fall 2020, Fall 2021, Spring 2022, Spring 2023, and Fall 2023 students in AMST 460 and AMST 398, as well as one technical writing team from ENGL411.
In Fall of 2019, students in Professor Rachel Willis’ class began the development of a board game to help players strategize for rising seas. Students worked in teams to create prototype games for North Carolina’s coast. The following semester, in Spring 2020, Alex Pistiolis and Sydney Thomas took on new roles as teaching interns and created an entirely new game for children for a graduate seminar with Professor Willis on communicating climate change. This new game would be the start of “Climatopia™.” Since 2020, Professor Willis’ Rising Waters and Service Learning students have continued to work on developing Climatopia™ so that it can be played and enjoyed by children of all ages across the state of North Carolina. Now, in the Fall of 2023, a final class is putting the finishing touches on Climatopia™.
Rachel Willis
Sydney Thomas
Alex Pistiolis
The Purpose:
Climatopia™ is an innovative fabric game and resource backpack for people of all ages with BeAM and APPLES support to share strategies and resources to help plan for, face, and recover from climate change-enhanced water disasters. These disasters include:
- extreme heat
- severe precipitation events
- hurricanes
- pandemics
- wildfires
Using BeAM facilities and other resources, students have collaboratively designed all the game pieces, game boards, and curated resource links.
What makes this a “service-learning” course?
APPLES Service-Learning is a student-led program at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill that transforms educational experiences by connecting academic learning and public service. Service-learning courses offer the opportunity to extend learning beyond the walls of the classroom. APPLES courses integrate the educational goals of a course with relevant community service aiming to increase the students’ understanding of the course content and its impact on local communities. With the Climatopia™ project, learning about climate change enhanced disasters is enriched through developing and creating the board game. Along with this, various presentations of Climatopia™ at conferences such as the Makerspace and CleanTech summit improves speaking and professional skills. The skills and knowledge gained from culminating Climatopia™ will also help any future player of the game.
What makes this a BeAM Course?
BeAM is a network of makerspaces where you can join the UNC maker community in the design and making of physical objects for education, research, entrepreneurship, and recreation. BeAM courses focus on integrating design and making into their courses. In Climatopia™, students use the design process to identify, connect, design, make, test, and reflect on what it is they are creating. For game pieces, cards, and the sewing of the game bag and board, the Climatopia™ project heavily relies on the resources BeAM Makerspaces have to offer. This may be through using 3D printers, laser cutters, vinyl cutters, sewing machines, and other tools! BeAM helps us bring Climatopia™ to life!
Chris Harper using the laser wood cutter at the BeAM lab.
Character Pieces for the Fire Fighter, Climatologist, Utility Crew, FEMA Team, CDC Sleuth, and Rescue Squad. All of these pieces were made with the help of the laser cutter located in the BeAM labs.
Collaborators
The Climatopia™ students leaned on the services and assistance of many organizations and people around the UNC campus to help bring Climatopia™ to life. Through direct assistance from BeAM, Spoonflower, APPLES Services Learning, and many more people, Climatopia™ became a fully polished product to present to the community.
UNC BeAM:
BeAM@CAROLINA is a network of makerspaces at UNC that create a community for the design and making of physical objects for education, research, entrepreneurship, and recreation. They host open studios, training sessions, workshops, classes and group activities in spaces equipped with emerging technologies like 3D printing as well as wood and metalworking shops.
BeAM Lab Support:
Climatopia™ would not be a reality without the constant help from the BeAm lab staff. Key components of Climatopia™ such as the cutting of the laser wood pieces and sewing of the game board are done within the BeAM labs. The constant help of the BeAM staff and equipment present in the labs has helped to make Climatopia™ the game it is today.
Anna Engelke
Education Program Manager, BeAM Network of Makerspaces
Role: Provided tools and materials through BeAM
Kenny Langley
BeAM Director
Role: Provided tools and materials through BeAM
Joel Hopler
Technical Supervisor
Role: Provided tools and materials through BeAM
D.J. Fedor
Technical Supervisor
Role: Provided tools and materials through BeAM
American Studies Support:
Richard Aillen Taylor, Office Manager of Greenlaw Hall, assisted with all of the fabric and other material orders for Climatopia™ since Spring 2021. A professional illustrator, cartoonist, and graphic art designer, he also helped with printing Character, Resource, and Quiz Cards, and mentored Climatopia™ students on how to use various software programs to improve the art, digital design, and printing of game cards.
Richard Aillen Taylor
UNC Greenlaw Office Manager
Freelance Web Designer and Illustrator
Richard’s work can be viewed here. Find Richard on Facebook here.
Role: Game and Print Consultant, provided assistance with printing game materials
Spoonflower:
Spoonflower is an online marketplace and custom fabric printing company that allows individuals to design and create their own fabric. In regards to Climatopia™, Spoonflower has helped the Climatopia™ board game and game bags become a reality. Their great customer service, end-products, and many fabrics have helped Climatopia™ become the great board game that it is today!
Apples Service-Learning:
APPLES Service-Learning is a student-led program at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill that transforms educational experiences by connecting academic learning and public service. Since 1990, APPLES has strengthened civic engagement by bringing together students, faculty and communities in sustained and mutually beneficial partnerships. Our class is engaging with APPLES through our board game making which will serve as an educational tool to fight against climate change.
UNC Clean Tech Summit:
The UNC Clean Tech Summit is a yearly event hosted by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill that offers a platform for students, faculty, and staff to engage in meaningful conversations about clean technology and its potential to create a more sustainable world. Attendees have the opportunity to learn from experts and innovators in the field and gain insight into the latest research and development in the clean energy sector. The summit is an excellent way for students to expand their knowledge of clean technology and become more informed about the transition to a greener future. In the Spring of 2023, UNC students were invited to present climate-resilient strategies to fellow students, faculty, and Clean Tech business owners by explaining Climatopia™.
Kidzu Children’s Museum:
Kidzu Children’s Museum is an interactive children’s museum located in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Kidzu offers educational activities and exhibits designed to inspire children to explore the world around them. In the Spring of 2023, a group of UNC Chapel Hill students had the opportunity to teach younger kids about climate resilience through the Climatopia™ game.
In The Press:
Megan Mendenhall and Alyssa Lafaro, members of the UNC research group the Endeavors team, are working directly with the makers of Climatopia™ to create both a video and a story on Climatopia™. Through their research into the game and video of gameplay/creation, the Endeavors team looks to create an in-depth story about Climatopia™.
Megan Mendenhall
Photographer/Videographer
Role: Filmed gameplay, planning charrettes, and BeAM lab creation to create a video
Alyssa Lafaro
Editor & Lead Writer
Role: Wrote a story on the creation process and goals of Climatopia™
Community Outreach
The main goal of Climatopia™ is to teach people of all ages about climate resilience. Given this, many different classes of Climatopia™ students took the game out to various organizations and events to teach people the mission of Climatopia™. Through this, the students taught the public different tactics to help mitigate the effects of climate-related disasters.
Morehead Planetarium (Fall 2023):
On November 17th, the Fall 2023 students brought the game to the Morehead Planetarium Teen Science Cafe. During this event, the Climatopia™ team played the game with different teens to teach them about climate resiliency through Climatopia™ gameplay. The Morehead Planetarium Teen Science Cafe is a program designed for teenagers who are interested in sharing their scientific ideas with one another.
Kailey, Rachel, Halle, and Jackson pose behind the Climatopia™ game board at the Morehead Planetarium.
Kailey and Jackson play the game with a couple of new game players to teach them about climate resiliency.
BeAM Makerfest Conference (Spring 2023)
On April 27th, the Spring 2023 Climatopia™ makers went to the BeAM Makerfest Conference to showcase Climatopia™ to the UNC community. This group won 2nd overall for the Most Creative award. The Makerspace Showcase provides a platform for individuals, groups, and organizations to showcase and compare their projects within the Carolina community, with projects vying for awards including Most Creative, Best Mixed Media, and Best All-Around.
Spring 2023 and previous Climatopia™ makers posing in front of their showcase at the BeAM Makerfest.
Spring 2023 and previous Climatopia™ makers posing together with a sewn draw string Climatopia™ bag at the BeAM Makerfest.
UNC Cleantech Summit (Spring 2023):
From March 27th-28th, the Spring 2023 students building Climatopia™ were invited to present the game at the 2023 UNC Cleantech Summit! The UNC Cleantech Summit aims to build research capacity by fostering collaboration and knowledge sharing for global environment problem-solving. During the summit, the students presented Climatopia™ to UNC students, professors, and researchers.
Sydney and Julia presenting Climatopia™ to other students at the CleanTech Summit.
Miles, Dasha, Pranav, Sydney, and Dr. Rachel Willis standing behind their Climatopia™ set up at the CleanTech Summit.
Kidzu Children’s Museum Event (Spring 2023):
From April 13th – 15th, various Spring 2023 Climatopia makers took shifts at the Kidzu Children’s Museum to present the game to the local younger generation. The Kidzu Children’s Museum in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, invites children to embark on interactive educational adventures, exploring exhibits designed to inspire curiosity about the world around them.
Karina, Gabby, and Tikiyah presenting and playing our game at Kidzu Children’s Museum!
Nathan and Chris playing a game of Climatopia™ at Kidzu Children’s Museum!
BeAM Makerfest Conference (Fall 2021)
During the BeAM Makerfest Conference, the Fall 2021 Climatopia™ makers presented their project to the UNC community and secured third place in the Interdisciplinary category. The event serves as a platform for individuals, groups, and organizations to exhibit and assess their projects within the Carolina community.
Group of Fall 2021 Climatopia™ makers and Dr. Rachel Willis showing off their award for third place in the Interdisciplinary category at the BeAM Makerspace.
Group of Fall 2021 Climatopia™ makers standing behind their showcase at the BeAM Makerfest.