MIT climate clock displays unconventional countdown to global warming landmark
As global leaders convene in Dubai for COP28, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) projects a climate clock on its campus, counting down to the expected date of global warming to 1.5 degrees Celcius above preindustrial levels. The clock, which will be permanently exhibited beginning in 2024 originated at MIT D-Lab, designed by second-year student Norah Miller.
As world leaders gather for the United Nations annual climate conference this year in Dubai, people in Boston and Cambridge are being confronted by a dire reminder of the stakes.
From Nov. 30 to Dec. 12, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Climate Clock Team is projecting a massive clock, roughly 80 by 20 feet in size, onto the south face of the campus’s Green building, the second-tallest structure in Cambridge and home to the university’s Earth, Atmosphere, and Planetary Sciences department.
The clock, designed by MIT second-year student Norah Miller, counts down to the projected date and time that the planet is expected to have warmed by 1.5 degrees Celsius - 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit - over preindustrial levels. That would mark a threshold climate scientists warn should be avoided to prevent worsening, and potentially irreversible, impacts from global warming, such as more intense wildfires, heat, droughts, and storms.