Apocalypse when? ‘Earth’s Black Box’ to be installed in remote Tasmanian airfield

An artist's impression of the Earth's Black Box, which is expected to be installed near Queenstown, Tasmania, in December. Photograph: Earth's Black Box View image in fullscreen An artist's impression of the Earth's Black Box, which is expected to be installed near Queenstown, Tasmania, in December. Photograph: Earth's Black Box Apocalypse when? ‘Earth’s Black Box’ to be installed in remote Tasmanian airfield Rouser Lab says the steel structure will record ‘every step’ humanity takes towards climate catastrophe Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our email, free app or daily news podcast It was designed to survive the apocalypse, as humanity’s last testament to its failure. But for a while it seemed the “Earth’s Black Box” hadn’t even survived its own planning process. Now, five years after it was announced to much fanfare, followed , the box is back. Its creators say parts assembly is under way and, in December, the full monolith will be installed near Queenstown on the edge of a remote western Tasmanian airfield. Only one thing is certain, your actions, inactions, and interactions are now being recorded.” The project’s inspiration is an aeroplane’s flight recorder, also known as a “black box” (despite usually being orange), which stores data within crash-proof casing to help investigators piece together the causes of accidents. That was also an Australian invention: the prototype was put together at a government research lab in Melbourne in 1954. The Earth’s Black Box was announced to coincide with the UN’s 2021 Cop26 climate talks in Glasgow. Digital hard drives were turned on to begin recording data from the talks, to be transferred later to the physical box. MapBut then all mysteriously fell quiet. The last – and only – posts on its Instagram page are black tiles which form a 3x3 box from October 2021. Some wondered if it was all just performance art or a PR stunt, owing to the fact the project was dreamed up , an Australian not-for-profit “experimental environmental communications agency”, rather than scientists. Its artistic director, Jonathan Kneebone, says the project is now being coordinated ’s Black Box Foundation, a registered charity dedicated to the idea. “It will be approximately five years to the day that we are finally able to install the work,” he told Guardian Australia. Antarctica’s west coast missing an area of sea ice the size of France as temperatures peak 20C above average “In those five years, we have been evolving the design, data storage systems, source materials, web platform – as well as developing funding models to sustain the project into the future.” Rouser Lab claims its climate interventions have had 4bn media impressions worldwide, including for another “techno-obelisk”, also yet to be built, that will constantly transmit a Climate S.