The Ice Age machine

Over the last million years, cyclical changes in Earth's orbital parameters have been responsible for climate fluctuations and ice ages that have shaped our landscape. Current climate change, on the other hand, is caused by human greenhouse gas emissions and the CO2 content in the atmosphere exceeds the maximum value of the last 800,000 years by far. This is the main cause of current global climate change, which will affect human beings, and the whole ecosystem far into the future.While public awareness of climate change has increased massively over the last years, many misconceptions are still widespread. In order to increase awareness about the human impact versus natural processes, we are designing an interactive «Ice Age Machine», which will be placed at popular vantage points in Switzerland from September 2023 onwards. These interactive stations will allow groups of users to actively experience past ice ages as well as the corresponding environmental changes thanks to an innovative design and new visualization techniques based on artificial intelligence. The visitors will learn about the history of glaciations in the Alps, the extreme impact of human being on climate and what the future effects could be. The users have the opportunity to retrieve a photo showing them in action at the station in front of the panoramic ice age view to share via social media. To increase the visibility of the machine beyond the vantage points, communication activities on site and in the digital space (website, social media) will accompany the project.
The 28th IUGG General Assembly (IUGG2023) (Berlin 2023)