«The Earth has a deadline»: the message of the New York Climate Clock

Jeenah Moon for The New York Times

Metronome’s clock changed its mission during Climate Week, it started to show how much time we have to prevent a climate disaster  

Seven years, 103 days, 15 hours, 40 minutes and seven seconds. These numbers appeared on the famous Metronome’s clock in Manhattan within the inauguration of the Climate Week. 

The purpose of the Climate Clock, according to the two artists Gan Golan and Andrew Boyd, is to show how much time we still have to prevent the global warming effects to become irreversible. 

The numbers are based on a research developed by Mercator Research Institute on Global Commons and Climate Change. The aim of the artwork is to send a message in order to encourage everyone to cooperate in fighting the global warming. Therefore, there is still time to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions before it’s too late. On the other side, if nothing will change, between 2030 and 2052 global warming is likely to reach 1.5 °C over preindustrial levels causing huge damages for the ecosystems and for the planet in general. 

The two artists Gan Golan and Andrew Boyd had already made a small version of the Climate Clock for the activist Greta Thunberg. Accessing the website climateclock.world is possible to know more about the project and to discover the specific meaning of the numbers.