Black Box

Small Wonders

In the hinterland of Australia's largest island, Laurel Moffatt discovers engineers are hard at work planning a place to story the memory of all our environmental mistakes.

The thinking is that our climate is no longer just changing, but headed for disaster. And if our planet's going to crash, survivors will need to know what happened and why, and hold any responsible parties to account.

But what if this 'Black Box' recorder isn't big enough. After all, there are many more sins to account for than just greenhouse gases.

The Black Box holds a tension between the acknowledgment of wrong-doing (repentance) with a desire to be made right (justice). But if justice and the judgment it carries is the only thing we have, would any of us survive?

LINKS

Australian Government, Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment, Final report: Mount Lyell Remediation Research and Demonstration Program.

Mount Lyell Remediation, Supervising Scientist Report.

Tish Harrison Warren, We're All Sinner, and Accepting That Is Actually a Good Thing, The New York Times.

Brad Plumer and Raymond Zhong, Climate Change Is Harming the Planet Faster Than We Can Adapt, U.N. Warns, The New York Times.

Romans 3:25, the 'mercy seat' reference.