A Climate Clock for Shibuya for the most important number in the world

Update: a(n)action’s crowdfunding project is a success. Congratulations!

Climate change is has been having a huge negative impact across the globe in recent years. In the summer of 2021, a temperature of 49.6 degrees Celsius was recorded in North America, with large-scale wildfires as a result. In Belgium and Germany, 1,300 people are still missing due to an unprecedented flood, and in August, a large-scale forest fire broke out in Greece and Turkey.

Japan is no exception. August 2021 saw record-breaking rainfall equivalent to the scale of the torrential rain in Western Japan that occurred in 2018, mainly in the Kyushu region. Some suggest that as global warming progresses, heavy rains of the magnitude of the Western Japan torrential rains will occur more than three times as often. As well as experiencing more torrential rainfall and typhoons, Japan is also suffering from more severe heat waves during the summer months than previously experienced.

Seeing these immense effects that climate change is having on the world, four Japanese 20-years-olds stood up to take action. In order to make a difference in Japan’s climate change countermeasures, they formed a group called “a(n)action.” The members met in 2019 when they were working as climate activists on a Japanese version of “Fridays For Future”—a school strike put forth by Swedish climate campaigner Greta Thunberg. The four members, who each joined for their own separate reasons, commenced their activities by making policy proposals to the government, signing initiatives, and campaigning for corporations with the hope of protecting their future from the climate crisis.

However, in Japan, there are very few people who speak out about issues directly to politicians and corporations. Members of a(n)action were desperate to do something to change this kind of situation in Japan. They were very aware of the little time they had left to stop the climate crisis. They decided to start a project to set up a “Climate Clock” in Shibuya, a major entertainment district in Tokyo, to raise awareness of the climate emergency.

What is a Climate Clock?

A Climate Clock is a clock that shows the time humans have left to take decisive action to keep global warming under the 1.5 degrees C threshold. It is said that if humans continue pumping carbon dioxide into the atmosphere at the current rate, in less than 7.5 years, the global temperature will increase by 1.5 Celsius—which is what scientists call a “point of no return.”

A team of U.S.-based climate activists installed the first Climate Clock in New York in September 2020. Other cities like Glasgow and Seoul followed suit and put up their own clocks. The leader of a(n)action, Mio Neihart, came across New York’s Climate Clock in 2020. She realized that the clock could be the perfect way to raise awareness in Japan on how much time they have left to save the planet.

Their plan includes:

• To install multiple Climate Clocks in Shibuya to create touchpoints that make people realize the urgency of the climate crisis.
• Create a website that people can access via a QR code on the clock. Accessing the site will allow people to join their petition to pressure the Japanese government to improve its climate policy.
• To notify the Japanese government after every 10,000 pledges.

People in Japan are still unaware of the timeline of climate change and how urgent the climate crisis is. The clock will enable people to realize its urgency in their daily lives, and the number display can be used to ignite climate action. Through crowdfunding, they hope to raise 10 million yen—from hopefully 1,000 people willing to donate 10,000 yen—to turn their dream into reality.

The four members of a(n)action won’t even turn 30-years-old 7.5 years from now when the globe is projected to reach the 1.5-degree rise in temperature. They are not going to just sit back and watch the world fail to tackle climate change before it’s too late. You can learn more about their inspiring approach on their Instagram account. Even better, join a(n)action in an historical step to invest in the future of the world through their crowdfunding page (explanation of Climate Clock Project here in English).