We can influence global capital allocation in long-term savings in a way few other professions can, on top of our role in the insurance markets. Our tower is starting to sway.Īctuaries wield enormous influence in the global financial system – we are a disproportionately powerful Earth Jenga team, given our tiny numbers. Dasgupta estimates that we are over-consuming global resources at a rate of 70% – in other words, we would need 1.7 Earths to sustain our current consumption rate. Total wealth ballooned to around US$500trn, although it is spread unevenly, with the richest 1% owning more than the poorest 55%. Over that period, Earth’s population grew from around five billion to nearly eight billion. Sir Partha Dasgupta’s 2021 independent review for the government, The Economics of Biodiversity, estimates that per capita global natural capital shrunk by 40% between 19. We pick out blue and green blocks and paint them yellow, focusing on height rather than stability. There is more human wealth, but also a higher risk of collapse.Įarth Jenga is a simulacrum of our extractive economy, in which we have busily been converting natural resources into human wealth. If we use up the blue and green blocks more quickly than they regrow then, as with traditional Jenga, the tower becomes taller but more unstable. Our tower of human wealth would get higher while remaining on a stable Earth system foundation. We could take a blue block representing fish, turn it yellow and then re-grow a blue block. Provided we don’t eat too many fish, more fish will replace the ones we eat – a truly sustainable resource. The blue and green blocks can also regenerate. Whether the rich people are happier is a different question. According to the non-profit Gapminder, rich people live longer than poor people, so there is something in this. More wealth leads to jobs, education, improved medical care, better food and so on – which is why it makes sense to focus on GDP and profit. Human wealth increases as we remove natural resources such as water, timber and fossil fuels from the base of the tower and convert them into goods and services. Human wealth and society rest on the ongoing stability of our Earth system, which provides inputs to our economy as well as the food, water and air we need. The yellow represents human wealth – produced capital (such as roads, buildings and ports) and human capital (such as health and education). This represents the Earth system and our natural resources, with the green blocks representing land-based resources and the blue representing water-based resources.Įvery time a block is removed in Earth Jenga, it is painted yellow before it is placed on top of the tower. In ‘Earth Jenga’ the 54 wooden blocks are painted, with 35 blue blocks and 19 green. The objective is to avoid being the player who triggers the collapse. They take turns to remove blocks and place them on top of the tower, which becomes higher and less stable until it collapses. Players build a tower from 54 wooden blocks, with three blocks in each layer – so 16 layers high. Jenga is based on a Ghanaian block stacking game. But actuaries can help anchor the wobble, says Sandy Trust Keep playing like this until one player knocks the tower over.Like a game of Jenga, we keep whittling away at the building blocks of the Earth to make new things to precariously pile on top. Once the starting player places their block, the player sitting to their left goes next. Players are not allowed to pull a block from the top 3 rows, or use more than 1 hand to remove their block. The starting player removes a single block and places it on top of the tower to start a new row. Then, have one player volunteer to go first. Repeat this process until all 54 pieces have been placed into a tower. Then, stack 3 new bricks on top of the base with that are perpindicular to the first layer of bricks. To play Jenga, first lay 3 Jenga blocks together to make a square-shaped base. You can play with anywhere from 2-10 players. The aim of the game is to remove blocks and place them on top without knocking the tower over. Jenga is a competitive puzzle game played with blocks that are stacked on top of one another to make a tower.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |