UNEP Ozone Secretariat launch - New Game: RESET EARTH: One Ozone, One Planet, One Chance

The year is 2084

Knox, Sagan and Terran don't have long to live, unless...

Follow three teenagers as they race against time and travel through it to find a solution to the GROW – a disease that has spread across the world and cut life-expectancy to less than 30 years. Their journey takes them back in time where they find the cause of the disease, learn about the importance of the ozone layer and the impact of working together towards a common human cause.

Follow them as they Reset Earth.

Through an immersive animated web series and mobile game, Reset Earth brings hope to Generation Z by showing them what was achieved after the world came together in 1985 at the Vienna Convention to address the ozone crisis.

One Ozone. One Planet. One Chance..game launched with UNEP Ozone Secretariat 

What would the world look like if we hadn’t saved the ozone layer?

2084. The GROW has taken over. Three teenagers find themselves on an adventure to save themselves and the world.

Reset Earth is an animated short film and mobile game that follows the adventure of three young heroes as they race against time to find a solution to the GROW, a life-threatening disease that prevents anyone from living much beyond the age of 25.

In search of answers, our heroes will travel through time, and across multiple landscapes, attempting to unlock the secrets of the past to save themselves, the ozone layer and the future of the planet from impending doom. Along the way, they will learn the importance of the ozone layer, as well as the power of working together to achieve what might at first seem impossible.

Rooted in science, this fictional story and game will present a dramatized picture of what Earth could have been like if the world had not acted to protect the ozone layer and signed the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer in 1987.

Aimed at adolescents and parents this innovative animation and game from the United Nations Environment Programme’s Ozone Secretariat uses the power of storytelling to educate and inspire young people around the world. Understanding that many young people are anxious about the future state of the planet, this campaign aims to show them the power of science, collaboration and cooperation in solving complex global challenges.

The campaign also offers a message of hope, showing how the global community was able to come together and solve one of the most complex environmental challenges at the time, with remarkable success. It happened once, and it can happen again!

Set in a dystopian post-apocalyptic world in 2084, Reset Earth tells the story of a world in which the ozone layer has been completely ruined and human life is under threat from an unstoppable virus called the “GROW”. Three teenagers, Knox, Sagan and Terran, team up in a time-travel adventure to save the planet and what’s left of human life. Their mission is to find out what caused the GROW.

With a clue from a mysterious stranger, and the help of a time machine, they realise that stopping the GROW is somehow linked to the ozone layer. Together they travel to critical historical moments in the story of the mysterious “ozone layer”, learning about the fundamental role it plays in protecting the health  and wellbeing of the planet.

Our story opens with Knox, a tough young scavenger whose GROW is spreading fast, who discovers a time machine and jumps back to 2055. Here she begins to understand that the GROW may be linked to the ozone layer.

This prompts Knox and her friend Sagan to find Terran, whose passion for history and knowledge of the earth, helps them better understand what the ozone layer is, and how it was destroyed. Armed with this knowledge, our characters jump back to 1928 in an attempt to destroy the patents for CFCs (chlorofluorocarbons). Although successful in their mission, when they return to 2084, they find their world relatively unchanged, and their GROW has spread.

Ultimately, our heroes realise that to save the ozone layer, they must jump back in time to ensure the signing of the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer. In one last attempt to protect the ozone layer, our heroes work together, combining all their strengths and knowledge to travel back in time and change the future.

Sagan jumps to the Antarctic in the 1980s to leave a note for scientists to trust the numbers, while Terran jumps to NASA where he reconfigures a satellite arrangement to find the ozone hole.

Left in 2084 because of her rapidly growing GROW, Knox realises that their plan is working, but something more is needed. In a last-ditch attempt to change the future, she risks her life for one final jump to 1966. Here she leaves a letter in a young girl’s post box encouraging her to keep pursuing science because one day she will help change the world.

Through their adventure, our heroes learn that when we work together, trust the science, and invest in youth, we can overcome seemingly impossible challenges, and change the future for the good of all.

WATCH THE SHORT FILM NOW

What is the ozone layer?

The ozone layer is a region of high ozone concentration in the stratosphere, 15 to 35 kilometres above Earth's surface. The ozone layer acts as an invisible shield and protects us from harmful ultraviolet (UV) radiation from the sun. In particular, the ozone layer protects us from the UV radiation, known as UV-B, which causes sunburn. Long-term exposure to high levels of UV-B threatens human health and damages most animals, plants and microbes, so the ozone layer protects all life on Earth.