Are you interested in mercury science and policy? Do you teach an introductory science or environmental issues class and want to include a science-policy element? Do you want to explore science-policy interactions with your colleagues or lab group? We’ve created the Mercury Game to teach people about the role of science in international environmental policy making in an interactive and fun environment — and it’s free to download!

The mercury game is a role-play simulation for ten players aimed at scientists, students and decision makers. Playing the game will help participants explore the consequences of representing scientific uncertainty in various ways in a policy context. The game focuses on the credibility of various sources of technical information, strategies for representing risk and uncertainty, and the balance between scientific and political considerations. The game also requires players to grapple with politics – it explores the dynamic between the global “North” (the developed world) and the global “South” (the developing world) at the heart of most treaty-making difficulties.

For more information on the game, see this video, featuring our own Leah Stokes. Leah wrote the game along with Noelle Selin and Lawrence Susskind at MIT.