VR Time Travel into a Future Shaped by Climate Change
Let's jump to the future Nagyerdő in Debrecen, to the Grossglockner, or even to London, and see what it will look like if we don't change enough
About the project
The Planet Budapest 2021 Sustainability Expo took place November 29 – December 5, 2021, at the renewed Hungexpo exhibition halls. The exhibition's goal was to draw the public's attention, especially young people's, to unfavorable environmental, social and economic processes, and to show that these negative changes overshadowing humanity's future can still be reversed. The video is available in a uniquely developed 360° video player optimized for the Oculus Quest 2 VR headset, controlled via gaze control (i.e., without using controllers), so that people trying VR for the first time don't need to learn how to use controllers with many buttons. The 3D rendered video shows the current state of 3 different environments and how they could change due to climate change, using striking visual elements. Traveling on a climate roller coaster, we arrive from space to Earth, and thanks to VR, it truly feels like riding a roller coaster winding through the stratosphere. Passing through the clouds surrounding us, we arrive at the Nagyerdő in Debrecen, where gliding among the trees, we understand and experience what desertification means for this forest today. Then, through a connecting tunnel, we suddenly find ourselves above the valley of the Grossglockner, and as if time had sped up, we see how the entire glacier has disappeared and continues to disappear over the years. Finally, we travel above the Thames, surrounded by London's landmarks – as well as the river overflowing due to rising sea levels. The London Eye can't hold on any longer and collapses in full size right in front of us, and the other landmarks don't fare any better either…
