"I want them to panic… I want them to act like the house is on fire." This is how, alluding to climate change, the Swedish environmental activist Greta Thunberg went to World Economic Forum in Davos in 2019 . But what does this burning house look like? You no longer have to imagine it. Google has launched a tool which shows the effects of such climate change in five of the most important monuments of cultural interest in the world.
Thanks to 3D cartography, photogrammetry and images taken with drones, Heritage in Danger allows anyone to virtually observe the deterioration of these monuments caused by the environmental crisis . On the website you can see 50 elements belonging to five places declared World Heritage by unesco : Rapa Nui (Easter Island); Kilwa Kiswani , on the coast of Tanzania ; the old town and the new town of Edinburgh, in Scotland ; the city-mosque of bagerhat , in Bangladesh ; and the ancient city of Chan Chan , in Peru . With the tool, you can explore three-dimensional models of these places, take guided tours of their streets and discover the different ways each one is on the verge of collapse due to the climate crisis.
By clicking on a location, you can read a brief summary of its history , its appearance and its cultural relevance . From there you get information about the deterioration it has suffered over the years. For example, in the section on Rapa Nui , it is seen that almost a thousand of the ancient moai is experiencing rapid erosion due in large part to the sea level rise.
Photo: Google
The edinburgh castle , in Scotland, presents a serious risk of erosion and collapse due to increased rainfall, rising groundwater and landslides, while the adobe of the chan chan city it is slowly wearing away from Peru's storms and droughts.
The 3D map shows the moai toppled on Rapa Nui. Photo: Google
But there is still more. Can be found testimonials of people from these regions, their explanations of the importance of the monuments and their strategies to combat climate change . the community of Kilwa Kiswani talk about what it takes to maintain the oldest mosque on the east coast of Africa , while the inhabitants of Rapa Nui tell how they use technology to protect your culture . Afroza Khan Mita, director of the regional directorate office of the Department of Archeology in kulna , explains: "Bangladesh is a risk zone due to these climatic phenomena. It's like a cancer. You have to stop it in time and not allow it to progress."
It's not the first time Google gets involved in the fight against climate change . In 2018, the company began making estimates of the Emissions of greenhouse gases from various cities around the world.