We are creating a mobile app that enables anyone, anywhere to experience a walking audio history of the living Earth. Help us develop this tool for educational awareness and support a project that will raise funds for scholarships at Schumacher College.

The new Deep Time Walk App is a walking audio history of the living Earth giving users a detailed and dramatised experience of the planet’s 4.6 billion year big history as they are guided on a physical 4.6 kilometre walk across time. Award winning playwright Peter Oswald has collaborated with ecologist Stephan Harding (Schumacher College) to create a unique script that provides an enticing and poetic dialogue between ‘The Scientist’ and ‘The Fool’ as they journey through deep time. The script was recently recorded with actors Chipo Chung (“The Scientist”) & Paul Hilton (“The Fool”). The production is directed by Jeremy Mortimer, who has created over 200 dramas for BBC Radio.

With each metre walked representing one million years, users of the Deep Time Walk mobile app listen to the story of the evolution of the 4.6 billion year big history of the Living Earth – from a disc of rocky debris, through the formation of the Earth, its oceans and atmosphere, the appearance of bacteria, nucleated cells and, eventually, multicellular organisms. At the climax of the walk the last 20cm (200,000 years) represent the timespan of humanity, and in the final 1/5th of a millimetre (200 years), the walker witnesses the miniscule time (in geological terms) that has elapsed since the start of the industrial revolution. A prototype for the mobile app has been designed by Art Director Fred Adam, a locative media expert which works by tracking how far and how fast you walk, and presents a corresponding acoustic soundscape to the walker as they journey through time.

With the script written, the audio recorded (here’s a sample) and the app prototyped we now need to raise £21,000 to complete the project. This money will be used to edit and mix the sound recordings, create symphonic soundscapes to accompany the narration, code the iOS and Android applications and go through two beta testing versions ready for launch in autumn 2016. Surplus profits from the sale of the app will be used to fund scholarships for students at Schumacher College.

1. Please make a pledge

NOTE: We are giving exclusive access to a beta-version of
the Deep Time Walk App for either iOS or Android to the first 50 supporters to pledge.
£10 (US$14): THANK YOU – for supporting the Deep Time Walk App project; we’ll notify you when we launch with our early bird discount price for the iOS and Android app.

£25 (US$36): AUDIO PACK – exclusive recordings from Satish Kumar (30 minute meditation), Stephan Harding (The Deep Time Well, Riding the Clouds, Carbon Cycle and Ode to the Elements) and Martin Shaw reading an exclusive extract on Deep Time from his forthcoming book Scatterlings.

£55 (US$80): VIDEO LEARNING PACK – a digital version of the Animate Earth film, as well as over 6 hours of new tutorials on Resilience, Ecology and Gaia Theory by Stephan Harding to download.

£70 (US$100): SMALL BUNDLE – Both the audio and video learnings packs.

£75 (US$110): SCRIPT COLLECTOR – a signed printed and bound copy of the Deep Time Walk Script written by Stephan Harding and Peter Oswald

£100 (US$140): AUDIO COLLECTOR – exclusive signed CD pack including the Deep Time Walk audio experience – otherwise not available unless listened via the Deep Time Walk app.

£150 (US$215): COLLECTORS EDITION – both the signed script and the special edition CD pack of the Deep Time Walk audio experience signed by the production team.

£180 (US$260): BIG BUNDLE – Both the Script and Audio collector editions + Audio and Video Learning packs PLUS an invite to the launch event.

£250 (US$360): PRIVATE WALK – with Stephan Harding and an invite to the launch event.

£300 (US$430): LAUNCH DINNER –  feast for 2 plus invitations to our launch event.

£500 (US$720): EPOCH SUPPORTER – all of the above rewards – media packs, collectors editions, private walk for 2, dinner feast for 2 and launch invite.

£1000 (US$1430): ERA SUPPORTER – all the above, and listing on our website with great thanks for being a core supporter of the Deep Time Walk project.

£2500 (US$3585): EON SUPPORTER – all of the above, plus listing in the about screen of the Deep Time Walk App with eons of thanks for being such a core supporter of the project.

P.S. You can always pledge more money than the pledge tier if you like, so if you’re feeling really generous you could pledge £200 for the £150 level if you wish, or even choose not to receive a reward. It’s up to you!

2. Spread the word

Please help spread news of the project on http://www.facebook.com/deeptimewalk, Twitter @deeptimewalk, as well as emailing it to friends and family! Our website address for sharing is http://www.deeptimewalk.org. 🙂

3. Get in touch

If you would like to know more about the project, have a question, would like to partner, tell us what you think, please get in touch at hello@deeptimewalk.org

Thank you for your support and help to make the Deep Time Walk App a reality!