Welcome to Townsville, a community nestled in California’s Central Valley. Here, you and a group of fellow residents are tasked with spearheading cropland transition initiatives. These projects present opportunities to safeguard the town’s drinking water, promote renewable energy, restore environmental health, and encourage sustainable farming practices. Collaborating with your neighbors, you will deliberate on which projects to undertake and negotiate with adjacent landowners to shape Townsville’s future, all while contending with the challenges of extreme weather induced by climate change. It is crucial to also address the often-overlooked side effects of current land uses that significantly impact the community.
This setting forms the backdrop for ‘Common Ground,’ a video game created by a student team at Harvey Mudd College in collaboration with UCS, which delves into the themes of just land transition, climate change, and the intricacies of cropland transition in California’s Central Valley.
Drought, extreme heat, and floods
Though Townsville is fictional, the challenges players face are rooted in real issues confronting Californians today.
California hosts over 60,000 farms spanning more than 20 million acres. However, its lucrative agricultural industry incurs costs to water security, air quality, and health for nearby residents, farmworkers, and small-scale farmers.
Agricultural water demand has severely impacted California’s groundwater sustainability. During the 2012-2016 drought, restrictions on surface water deliveries led to increased groundwater pumping in the Central Valley, largely driven by agricultural needs. Intense groundwater pumping in the San Joaquin Valley dried up thousands of private domestic wells and caused subsidence, where excessive groundwater removal leads to land sinking.
The San Joaquin Valley is also plagued by poor air quality, pesticide and fertilizer pollution in air and water, and extreme heat conditions. Climate change is exacerbating these issues, with increasing occurrences of weather fluctuations, from severe flooding in some years to historically low snowpack levels in others.
Addressing these challenges requires a fundamental transformation of how natural resources are managed, shifting towards practices that rejuvenate rather than deplete land and water resources.
The Opportunity—just land transition
California’s dedication to groundwater sustainability has already initiated cropland transitions in the Central Valley.
In response to the 2012-2016 drought, California implemented new laws and incentive programs to promote sustainable water management. The 2014 Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA) mandates long-term management of groundwater basins. Additionally, California has pledged approximately $250 million through the Multibenefit Land Repurposing Program to support groundwater resilience projects, including groundwater recharge, stormwater capture, and cropland repurposing.
To achieve groundwater sustainability, more than 500,000 acres of irrigated cropland might be repurposed in the San Joaquin Valley alone. The location and method of this transition will influence the future of California’s agricultural industry and Central Valley communities.
A just land transition, unlike market-driven approaches, involves communities impacted by the transition in the decision-making process. This strategic approach can shift from unsustainable and extractive practices to those benefiting communities and local economies. By repurposing cropland in and around rural communities, public health risks can be mitigated, and public benefits can be provided. In our latest report, “Working with Nature to Protect California’s Agricultural Regions,” we offer examples of employing nature-based solutions to enhance water sustainability and improve public health, climate resilience, and economic benefits.
This transition could reshape the Central Valley and aid community adaptation if public funds are invested in projects that prioritize community decision-making and yield tangible benefits for frontline communities.
UCS scientists have discovered that repurposing cropland near communities offers numerous benefits. Reducing pesticide and fertilizer use, dust, emissions from agricultural activities, and groundwater withdrawals near communities can lower public health risks for frontline communities.
Land transitioned to projects offering multiple benefits, such as energy reliability, habitat restoration, flood risk reduction, and groundwater recharge, can benefit communities significantly. There is substantial potential in exploring nature-based solutions to achieve climate adaptation, resilience, and groundwater sustainability.
A card from the Common Ground video game. Harvey Mudd College/UCS
Welcome to Townsville
In ‘Common Ground,’ players engage with these challenges by working together on cropland transition projects in Townsville. Players are tasked with budget management, negotiating with landowners, and dealing with unpredictable extreme weather to safeguard their community.
Players can conceptually explore various cropland transition opportunities and observe how their decisions impact Townsville’s community, environment, and economy.
The game was developed by UCS in collaboration with a talented team of students at Harvey Mudd College. Led by Professor Kirabo, Laura, Mia, Nicole, Ria, and Vibhu worked with us over the academic year. Our aim was to create an engaging, multiplayer cooperative game that focuses on transitioning cropland around communities to minimize negative externalities (like pesticide exposure) and deliver meaningful benefits (such as improved groundwater levels, access to parks, and renewable energy). The students immersed themselves in the concept of cropland transition, translating these scientific ideas into game mechanics.
Drawing on real-world nature-based solutions, the students developed a variety of project types in the game, each offering distinct advantages for the environment, community well-being, economy, and local farmers.
Throughout the year, the students gathered feedback through playtests with peers, UCS staff, and even presented an early version of the game to state agencies and staff in Sacramento who work directly on groundwater sustainability and cropland transition.
After a year of dedicated effort, we are thrilled to present Common Ground—now available to play online! This game is accessible to anyone—all you need is three friends and an internet connection. We hope it serves as a valuable educational tool, helping everyone learn about cropland transition and nature-based solutions, while simulating collaboration and negotiation during project design and selection, and understanding the benefits and tradeoffs of climate resilience planning.
