Spinning clock in New York counts down time until climate devastation

NEW YORK, (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Climate campaigners unveiled a huge countdown clock yesterday, showing how little time is left before global temperatures hit a critical high, to kick off a week of climate action in New York.

The digital installation shows seven years and 102 days remain before average global temperatures, at current emission rates, reach 1.5 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels.

“There’s good news. That number isn’t zero,” said Gan Golan, an artist and activist who co-created the display.

“We can meet this challenge, but we don’t have any time to lose,” he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

The United Nations has warned of huge global changes, such as the loss of coral reefs and Arctic sea ice, if the 1.5 degree threshold is crossed.

Countries in the 2015 Paris Agreement agreed on measures to limit emissions to stay below the critical temperature mark.

The clock’s installation will take over what is known as the Metronome, where 15 spinning LED digits tell the time of day and the time remaining in a day, down to a hundredth of a second.

It is set in the side of a glass building overlooking Union Square.

The Climate Clock will run for the length of Climate Week, an international summit involving New York City and the United Nations, with panel discussions, film showings and performances on global warming, many of them virtual due to the coronavirus pandemic.

“A monumental challenge needs a monument, and the Climate Clock could serve as this constant, public reminder in the media and cultural capital of the globe of that shared deadline,” said Daniel Zarillo, New York City’s chief climate policy advisor.