The #ClimateClock is an open-source project. Our team in New York that put together Greta’s mobile climate clock used inexpensive electronics (programmable Raspberry Pi circuit board, RGB LED matrix panels, etc.), a wooden casing, and the scientific methodology outlined here by Berlin’s MCC climate research institute — and so can you!
The RGB Matrix HAT is a purpose-built circuit board for powering and controlling LED matrix panels. HAT stands for Hardware Attached on Top, but before we can attach the HAT atop your Raspberry Pi it must be soldered together.
The Raspberry Pi does not, by itself, have a way to remember the date and time while switched off, but the HAT provides this capability with a small quartz crystal clock powered by a battery. When attached to the GPIO pins of the Pi, the HAT will also supply the Pi with power.
HUB75 RGB matrix panels, which can be purchased from a number of manufacturers, use a standard interface which allows them to be chained together. These panels vary in their manner of using the 16 pins to carry information, so if you use a type other than those sold by Adafruit, your clock's software may require tuning.
This software includes a Linux operating system based on Raspbian, the official operating system from the Raspberry Pi Foundation. We've modified Raspbian in a couple simple ways to work with the HAT. If you're interested in further customization, have a look at our code for building the system on github.The software also includes a Python program for controlling your CLIMATECLOCK. This program follows a simple methodology for calculating the 1.5°C global carbon budget, and clockmakers who have basic experience with the Python programming language should find it easy to customize.
dd
), go right ahead and skip the following step. Be aware that just copying the image file onto the memory card, like by dragging the image file to the card's icon, will not work! It's important to copy the image with an appropriate tool.
.img
file you downloadedThe CLIMATECLOCK needs to connect to the internet at least one time to set its clock. And if climate change predictions change, we'll update our numbers on github, and connecting to the internet will update the clock (TODO: not yet implemented).