Ecological Beacon

Every village, town and city would be encouraged to erect a beacon to mark the millennium. Sponsored locally, they would be variable in size and material to suite local conditions, the standard version would be 9.27m high.

Every beacon has one or more phone card operated interactive visual display units which give local environmental read-outs from the sensors and global ecological data from land lines or satellites.

The VDU's can also display locally generated information services, providing an A-Z map of the area and its facilities, data on its natural history and local community and conservation groups, and an electronic notice-board for local issues and events.

Every beacon, in every village and in every town is interlinked via the internet to create a national or even an international overview. Local schools and colleges could be involved by providing local information and the data generated can be used as part of their curriculum.

In this way, the beacons put into practice the potential for technology to link communities and develop a global perspective.

An equilateral triangle in plan at its base, each beacon tapers to a 15mm thick stainless steel capping strip at the top, curved to match the curvature of the earth.

If the beacon's height of 9.27m represents the distance from the core of the earth to the surface, this tiny 15mm sliver represents the inhabitable atmosphere, containing 85 percent if the total atmosphere mass and almost all the planet's water vapour.

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