The clock is ticking. The countdown for the climate is now also running at the TU Braunschweig. President Angela Ittel launched a climate clock on Thursday as part of the “TUmorrow Days” together with all those involved in the project. This counts down in bright red digits and is intended to illustrate the urgency of taking active action against global warming, as stated in a statement from the TU.
The large digits for the clock were built by students of architecture and the student engineering office “StudING”. Each one of them is about 2.50 meters high and 1.50 meters wide. The digits were attached to the balcony of the forum building with a wooden construction and are powered by electricity. According to the TU Braunschweig, this is generated by photovoltaic systems on the university campus. More than 60 students have been involved in the project over the past semesters – from the design and implementation to the final construction of the forum building.
“Climate change is one of the greatest challenges of our time. With the ClimateCrisisClock we want to raise awareness of the urgency with which we must act to curb the negative effects of climate change,” said Ittel. The TU President hopes that the climate clock will inspire people to take action and find solutions that will enable a more sustainable future.
The idea came from the climate justice movement “Students for Future”. The climate clock in Braunschweig is based on the CO2 clock of the Mercator Research Institute on Global Commons and Climate Change. This illustrates how much CO2 may be released into the atmosphere in order to limit global warming to a maximum of 1.5 degrees or two degrees.
