CarbonClock

Inspiration

Most people accept that climate change is serious — but very few actually understand the math behind it. I wanted to build something that made the science feel real, not just readable. The idea was simple: what if you could physically move a lever and watch Earth's future change in front of you? That emotional connection between action and consequence is what CarbonClock is built around.

What it does

CarbonClock is a real-time climate future simulator. Users adjust four global action levers — solar & wind adoption, reforestation, EV transition speed, and carbon capture — and instantly see how Earth's CO₂ concentration and temperature change from 2025 to 2100. It features a living Earth globe that shifts from green to red with warming, a real-time CO₂ chart, four outcome metrics (temperature, sea level, arctic ice, species at risk), and a tipping point alert system that fires when critical thresholds like coral reef collapse (+1.5°C) and Arctic ice loss (+2°C) are crossed. Five scenario presets — from Fossil Future to Paris 1.5°C — let users instantly compare possible futures.

How we built it

Built entirely with vanilla HTML, CSS, and JavaScript — no frameworks, no libraries. The CO₂ chart uses the HTML5 Canvas API with custom easing animations. The Earth globe is an interactive SVG that dynamically updates its gradient colours and ice cap sizes based on calculated temperature. All climate calculations use real physics equations — radiative forcing (ΔF = 5.35 × ln(C/C₀)), equilibrium climate sensitivity (ΔT = λ × ΔF), and carbon cycle accumulation — grounded in IPCC AR6 published data.

Challenges we ran into

The hardest part was making the math accurate and intuitive at the same time. Real climate models are enormously complex — simplifying them into four sliders without losing scientific integrity required careful research into IPCC data and a lot of calibration. Getting the Canvas chart to animate smoothly during live slider input was also technically tricky, requiring a custom interpolation system so curves transition fluidly rather than jumping.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

The tipping point alert system — when you cross +1.5°C and a red toast fires saying "Coral Reef Collapse tipping point crossed," it genuinely hits differently than reading it in a textbook. That moment of surprise is exactly what climate communication needs more of. I'm also proud that every single number in the simulation traces back to a real published source — nothing is invented.

What we learned

Climate science is simultaneously more hopeful and more urgent than most people realise. The math genuinely shows that aggressive renewable adoption + reforestation can keep warming below 1.5°C — it's physically possible. But the tipping point thresholds are unforgiving. A few tenths of a degree separates "stable" from "irreversible." Building this made that gap feel very real to me personally.

What's next for CarbonClock

Adding country-level data so users can simulate individual nation policies. A mobile-friendly version. Real historical CO₂ data from 1850 to 2025 as context before the simulation begins. Possibly a classroom mode where teachers can set scenarios for students to solve — "get Earth under 1.5°C using only these constraints."

Built With

• canvas-api
• css3
• html5
• ipcc-ar6
• javascript
• svg