3D Printed No-Snow Globe Might Not Make You Smile, But It Will Make You Think

This year, it snowed across the entire United Kingdom. This might not seem such a remarkable occurrence, but it was the first time such a widespread snow event had happened in the country in seven years. To mark the occasion, activist group Plan B sent Prime Minister Theresa May a special holiday gift – a snow globe without any snow. A No-Snow Globe, in fact.

With the No-Snow Globe was a letter:

“Merry Christmas, Prime Minister.
We hope you enjoyed the recent snowfall because it could be our last.
We made you this special gift: https://nosnowglobe.com/
It’s a glimpse of what Christmas could look like if you don’t update the 2050 UK carbon target.
Since it’s the season for giving, why not give our children a safer future?
Climate change is in your hands, Prime Minister. What do you say?
Best wishes,
Plan B”

Last week, Plan B initiated a lawsuit against the British government for what it describes as “inaction against Climate Emergency.” The government has declined to update the UK’s carbon target in line with recent scientific developments, so the group is suing them, expecting to have a preliminary hearing in early 2018. The No-Snow Globes are a visual aid, a look at what future winters might look like if action isn’t taken to reduce carbon output and halt climate change. They were created by ad agency Martin London in partnership with Plan B, and feature three different scenes. In one, children build a “snowman” out of mud beneath a bare tree hung with ornaments. In another people create “snow” angels in the dirt in a desolate-looking landscape. In the third, kids fling mud at each other in a snowless snowball fight. Give these snow globes a shake, and nothing happens – no snow swirls around.

The depressing-looking scenes inside the snow globes were 3D printed by BlackEdge 3D, a UK service bureau, using stereolithography.  They were then hand-finished and painted. In addition to May, snow globes were sent (via social media) to climate change deniers Nigel Lawson and Katie Hopkins, and they’re also on display at the Winter Forest Christmas Market at Broadgate Square.

“Snow was a regular part of my childhood but last week was the first time my eldest daughter had ever seen it,” said Daniel Fisher, Executive Creative Director at Martin London. “The No-Snow Globe is a disarming way of communicating a very serious message about the planet we are bequeathing her generation unless we take action.”

To help make their case stronger, Plan B has started a petition asking the UK government to revise its carbon target. If you’d like to sign it, you can do so here. You can also donate to the cause through the Crowd Justice platform.

The no-snow globes are a clever yet disturbing way to draw the attention of the public – and, hopefully, the government – to the effects of climate change. If images of fires and floods aren’t enough, turning the snow globe – a picturesque item that usually provokes feelings of contentment – into something bleak and unnerving may be an attention-getter. They’re 3D printed in beautiful detail – if “beautiful” can be used to describe something so depressing. It’s easy to find actual snow globes – or make your own – but they won’t start important conversations the way these No-Snow Globes do. As Plan B cheerfully points out, give these globes a shake and they’ll “disappoint you every time.”

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