Guess what? We've found our best hope for the future, and it's in the fourth grade.

Welcome to the World Peace Game, a hands-on political simulation that lets players explore the connectedness of the global community. Created by teacher John Hunter, the Character Approved game teaches of the imminent threat of war and its ensuing economic, social, and environmental crises. The goal: to extricate each country from dangerous circumstances and achieve global prosperity with the least amount of military intervention.

Full of espionage, billion-dollar budgets, timed negotiations, wicked problems like global warming, and characters like arms dealers and UN officials, the game is played by "nation teams" of enthusiastic, creative students. Check out the amazing trailer from the award-winning short film about the project here.

As one brilliant kid in John Hunter's class puts it, the road to world peace is not all "flowers and grassy fields and solar panels." But if this game can capture the imaginations of the next generation, we think humanity's got a good shot at figuring it out.

[Image: World Peace Game]