We are on the brink of a self-inflicted genocide due to rapid climate change on the planet.
How long do we actually have to turn it all around?
Is that even possible at all?
These are some of the many questions that come up when we talk about climate change and its impacts. A 2019 NASA report on global climate change warns that if Earth’s temperature increases by 1.5 degrees Celsius, the planet will fall victim to extreme heatwaves, fires, droughts, and limited water availability.
However, issues around climate change are still kind of fantastical to people who haven’t been exposed to its ill effects directly. Hence, it is easy to pass it off as something that might not be given heed to at the moment. In order to lead people to break free from this casual attitude towards climate change and its repercussions, here’s a tangible reminder.
Artists Gan Golan and Andrew Boyd unveiled the Climate Clock on Monday in New York which counts down the time left for human beings to act on global warming. It also gives an estimate of the amount of energy that can be extracted from renewable resources. The clock warned at 1.30 pm on Monday, 21 September that there were 7 years, 101 days, 17 hours, 29 minutes and 22 seconds until Earth’s carbon budget is depleted, based on current emission rates.
This installation replaces the astronomical clock that was first erected at Metronome, New York City’s public art wall.
It is ironical that the clock which once told time now tells the time remaining.
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