Earthbook: Planet Earth goes online

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Earth is on the social network "Earthbook". It signs up, clicks on the 'log in' button - and it's on its way!

We land on Earth's page which shows a profile picture of the beautiful Blue Planet. Earth lives in the Milky Way, is 4.48 billion years old and was born in the Big Bang. It is already friends with Moon and Sun. Mars and Venus will probably also soon be its friends.

There are a lot of posts on Earth's Wall:

The continents comment tongue-in-cheek: "We are still on the move".





The insect population is rising rapidly. The group counter shows more than 56 million 'likes'.
"Finally on dry land", say the mammals. The dinosaurs report they "saw a huge boulder today."

Recent activity on Earthbook:

O2 joined the group Atmosphere. Earth likes this.





A meteorite pokes Earth. Should it poke back?
Things now happen in rapid succession. The dinosaurs delete their Earthbook account. They died out. But here come two new friend requests:




Plants and animals are now friends with Earth.

What are the others up to? Let's see:

The group Evolution reports: "Moving ahead!" Earth likes this.
234,345,657 species joined the group Mutation. Birds say: "Looks good from up here!"
There is a great deal happening on Earth now. A lot of comments have been posted on the Blue Planet's homepage. Earth has added a lot of friends.

From Monkey to Human

Monkey has left the trees and posted a link to the educational "Stone as Tool" screencast. In astonishment it posts: "Wow, losing my hair!" And a little later on: "I dream all night about the fire's glow." There's something cooking everywhere - the continents post that they have split up.

Monkey writes: "Feel human". Earth posts: "Welcome Human!" Monkey updates its profile picture on Earthbook: It's a human!





Human and Earth are now friends.

Human makes a lot of changes:

Human creates the groups Farming and Hunters and Gatherers. Human then goes on to invite others to join the group Coal / Oil drilling. Earth joins the group.

Human starts the Industrial Revolution. Earth likes this. But then something goes amiss. Planet Earth complains of heartburn and says, "My oceans are acidifying."






Human posts an invitation to play the CO2 emissions game. Earth is annoyed and ignores the invitation. Earth then posts to the group Industrial Revolution: "I don't like this anymore."

Earth is in poor health. It posts: "Phew, got a fever!"

Mobile phones take over on Earthbook:

Human is excited about this and posts: "MOBILE! Can now phone from anywhere!" The like counter jumps to 2,275.

1.23 billion humans joined the group Internet. Earth is now totally confused and wonders: "Internet, what is that?"

Human boasts: "Have got a new smartphone (sent from Earthphone I)." Very soon thereafter, Human posts again: "I've got another new smartphone (sent from Earthphone II)."

Mobile phones are being replaced at breakneck speed: Earthphone I is obsolete and no longer used. It joins the group Drawer.






Rare earths are becoming ever rarer because Human is using so many smartphones. They call out: "Help! We're becoming rarer!"
Orangutan, tiger, green turtle and 3,337 other animals joined the group Endangered species. Human ignores this and exclaims: "Yay, we've reached the 6 billion mark!"

Earth is not well!

Earth chats with Planet Mars and says: "Human is getting on my nerves!" Mars replies: "Warned you! Sooner or later you're going to get into trouble for being so hospitable."




Earth looks gloomily into the future and says: "If they carry on like this." Mars is at a loss for words.





Here comes the CO2 emissions game again. Earth doesn't feel like playing anymore and clicks it away.

Human suddenly notices something and remarks: "Oh-oh! Using up 2 Earths, I mean more resources than we actually have." But then Human goes on to say: "Business as usual." The group Global Warming actually likes this.



 

But wait! There's hope!

But then Earth is invited to the event Earth Summit in Rio which it would like to attend. Science created the group Renewable Energy.

Things start happening very fast again. Human invites Earth to the event Kyoto Protocol. Atmosphere likes this.





Earth is glad that Human invited it to play Green Economy.

Sun has now joined the group Energy Production. Wind comments: "Welcome! Our power grid needs an upgrade."

Lots of positive changes on Earthbook:

Science created the group Alternative ways to measure progress; Human likes this.




There's a new link tip: "Smart Grids - Intelligent power grids." Sun and Wind like this. There's also a recommendation to take part in the "Raw materials expedition" campaign.




Science created the group "Damage control! 2 degrees of warming is the limit." Human realizes that we are in the middle a great transformation. Earth is happy about it and says: "Like this change!"

Is everything going to be OK?

Human chats with Earth and asks tentatively: "Would 2 degrees Celsius be okay for you?" Earth answers with a wink: "For starters".

Closing credits:

A film in the Science Year "Project Earth: Our Future"
A Climate Media Factory production
An initiative by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research: Science Year 2012 "Project Earth: Our Future"
What does our Earth's future look like?

www.zukunftsprojekt-erde.de
www.facebook.com/wissenschaftsjahr