New York.– In a remote part of Australia, a steel vault the size of a school bus will record the Earth’s warming weather patterns. You will listen to what we say and do. It will create an archive that could be instrumental in piecing together missteps, say its creators, should humanity be destroyed by climate change.
The vault, known as Earth’s Black Box, will be built in Tasmania, an Australian island state off the southern coast. It will work much like an airplane flight recorder, which records the final moments of a plane before crashing. But the creators of this new black box, including data researchers at the University of Tasmania, artists and architects, say they hope it won’t need to be opened.
“I’m on the plane; I don’t want it to crash,” said Jim Curtis, executive creative director at an Australian ad agency where the project was conceived. “I really hope it’s not too late.”
Many questions remain, such as whether Earth really needs a black box and how future generations would crack it. Curtis said the box would be designed “to hold our leaders accountable.” He added: “If civilization collapses, this box will survive with a completely unbiased data story.”
Climate change is one of the most serious threats facing humanity, scientists say. It is exacerbating economic and health inequalities, increasing the frequency and intensity of natural disasters and, the United Nations has warned, threatens the world’s food supply.
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