Earth Is Getting A Black Box So Future Civilizations Can Better Understand Our Doomsday

High schools and other communities often bury “time capsules,” so future generations can look back at the way things were during bygone eras. Similarly, but for vastly different reasons, every commercial air flight is recorded by a “black box”. In 2022, our planet will get a black box of its own to potentially record the path to its demise.

If that sounds gloomy, it is, but the organizations behind the project believe it necessary. Named “Earth’s Black Box,” the project’s website points out, “Unless we dramatically transform our way of life, climate change and other man-made perils will cause our civilization to crash”.

Earth’s Black Box is a collaboration between the University of Tasmania, communications firm Clemenger BBDO, and art collective The Glue Society. It’s scheduled to begin construction in early 2022.

The solar-powered vault will collect and store hundreds of data sets, measurements, and interactions pertaining to our planet’s health. This data includes temperature measurements, ocean acidification data, and even energy consumption. It also includes land use statistics, military spending, and human population growth.

Roughly the length of a school bus, the vault is shaped like an upside-down curb stop. A steel encasing 3 inches thick protects the contents from catastrophe. Tucked away in Tasmania, Earth’s Black Box will supposedly be in the most secure location on Earth.

The goal is to offer future generations an impartial, unbiased accounting of what humanity does leading to the planet’s demise. Project Black Box ultimately hopes, though, that we might change the story. The project will make all of the data contained available to the public for as long as it’s active.

If Project Black Box inspires the people and nations of the world to take urgent action to avert the disaster, its developers will consider that the greatest success.