The countdown

By Grace Downing, 2022

Published 10/12/20

On Monday, September 27th, 2020, around 3;20 pm, outside of the Metronome a 62 foot-wide digital clock was presented on the Metronome across from Union Square, in Manhattan, New York, with the words “The Earth has a deadline.” Then the numbers 7:103:15:40:07 ran across the screen representing the years, days, hours, minutes, and seconds of how much time we have left until we cause an irreversible climate emergency. A deadline, for us.

This clock, as a part of Climate week, was created by the artists Gan Golan and Andrew Boyd, a modern idea that has been well-at work for years past. They, along with scientists, believe this is the time we have left until we push the Earth to where the damage cannot be undone with our carbon emissions, and we begin to see even more flooding, wildfires, worsening famine, and human displacement. I believe it can be surely supported that the idea of climate change has officially been debunked as fable and is now fact. We are co-existing with a climate emergency, that many of our global leaders are proving incapable of handling, and time is running out, literally.

As the art of environmental science has grown, the main point of emphasis for researchers is the global temperature and change thereof. Just like the human body, the Earth can scientifically only perform healthy under certain temperatures. World leaders have been attempting to slow this warming well below 2 degrees celsius above pre-industrial levels by the year 2100, stated in a Mashable article back in February 2018. However, what Golan and Boyd have pointed out to us is that we just don’t have that much time.

Our Earth is getting warmer. There is no denying it. Even in our small North-eastern town we notice the subtle change, random snow patterns in the winter, or long extended rain seasons in mid February. Climate change, though a very new concept, is really an idea that we as a generation have grown up with and had to come face to face with since we first learned about the water cycle in 2nd grade. Though this idea that our world may be being overworked to exhaustion is a hard reality for many to grasp, we must come face to face with our actions for the future, and according to Gallon, near future. This irreversible damage we could cause is much closer than we thought, and these scientists are here to show us, bring attention, and lucky for us, in a pretty interesting and creative way.

This is not a doomsday clock. Time is not down to zero. It is only telling us that it is limited, and asking us what we are going to do about it. Our earth’s ecosystems are going to, and many have begun, falling apart. This is not just a call upon the city of Manhattan, it is a call for global unity. We must begin to take our own individual steps to take care of our home. Golan says ”The world is literally counting on us”, so we must rise up to the task. Here is a list of small things you as a student can do to begin to help the carbon budget:

-Buy a metal water bottle and lunch utensils

-Recycle/reuse your books

-Reduce the amount of paper you go through

-Compost at home

-Turn off the light when you leave a room!

-Carpool

-Organize your trash (recycle)

-Encourage others to do the same