Isn’t this a great idea? Here’s an Open-source game that, instead of uselessly abstracting you from the huge problems we face as a species, actually teaches you some of the more viable solutions.

 Extracted from their webpage:

PermaCities: Permaculture meets Urban Design 

“Permacities came from the idea of creating social media games like FarmVille that instead of just wasting your money, actually taught you how to farm or kept you up to date with the movement.

A coworker of mine once commented on eco-utopian schemes and said, “Well, but what are they going to do about Los Angeles?” Permacities showcases things people are doing right now to upcycle existing environments into ecocities and ecovillages.

The game was formerly known as Ecocity Now. We’ve changed the name to avoid confusion with other games and also to bring attention to permaculture principles of small scale interventions, working with nature, and focusing on both human and ecological needs.”

Here’s Scotty Ramirez, one of the programmers, talking about the project: