For centuries now, climate change has been a big issue for humanity. How we are exploding our natural resources has been very detrimental to our planet, and although so many people and companies have changed their modus operandi to take better care of our only home, there’s still so much work to do in a very short amount of time.
With this in mind, a huge part of the human population remains positive about the fact that we will find a way to repair or at least reduce the damage that has been done to our ecosystems. Still, there is another group that thinks it is better to record what’s left of the human species to have evidence of our attempts to save the planet for future generations or other civilizations that land on our planet. Either way, even though this sounds like a science fiction movie plot; the Earth will now have a Black Box (like the ones that airplanes have in case it crashes) to store everything that we do from now on to save or hinder the restoration of our home and therefore, our survival.
What is this monolith?
This will be a powerful box made out of 7.5-cm-thick steel that is intended to handle any possible environmental catastrophe to secure our climate-related information for years to come. The construction is located on a strategic island in Tasmania, Australia, which is characterized by its geological stability and isolation so that the information stored can’t be either manipulated or easily destroyed.
What will be stored in the Earth’s Black Box?
The technology that is kept in this box is highly related to two factors – internet connectivity and storage capacity to achieve its main objective. The Box is set up under solar energy storage and backed up with battery power so that it is always recording information. With this energy source, and through an internet connection, the box can collect all data regarding climate issues for the next 50 years.
It will be collecting geological data like land and sea temperatures, our CO2 levels, increase or decrease of the human population, energy consumption… as well as media information like newspaper articles, social media posts, and any other digital information that covers environmental topics so that anyone who gets to have access to this system will have a clear view as to why our planet ended up like that and what should they do or avoid doing to create a better future.
How will further generations access the information?
This is certainly something that hasn’t been entirely figured out yet. As for now, the information has already been recorded and the creators are first looking for a way to expand the storage capacity over the next 50 years. Along with that, they expect the access to be through a wireless digital platform that uses basic symbolism like our own language and can be easily interpreted by whoever gets to this new invention.
This is a genius invention that can be considered as part of the many post-apocalyptic movies we’ve seen on the screen but is also a huge reminder that our time is running low. Will our future generations get to see this information as a background story of how we got to save our planet? Or other civilizations will use it as an explanation as to how the human race got extinct? The decision is up to us.
Photos from Instagram: @onegreenthing and @greenology_tudaskozpont
