SCP-2203-JP-1 occurring on the Earth
Item #: SCP-2203-JP
Object Class: Apollyon
Special Containment Procedures: SCP-2203-JP is currently uncontainable. All SCP-2203-JP-1 discovered are to be burned immediately. There is no need to take samples. Means of controlling SCP-2203-JP are under discussion between the O5 Council, the Foundation's public relations department, and world leaders.
Description: SCP-2203-JP is a defense mechanism possessed by planets on which life can exist, or possibly all planets in this universe. When the inhabitants of such planets achieve technological capabilities exceeding a certain level (that is, a level capable of actively and drastically changing the planet's environment), SCP-2203-JP will become active. Activity consists of producing large amounts of white-colored organisms (SCP-2203-JP-1) possessing the ability to break down greenhouse gases1, and in early stages begins with several thousand or tens of thousands of instances appearing rarely. As technology progresses and comes into use2, the amount of SCP-2203-JP-1 created and the rate at which the effect occurs will increase, culminating in the full coverage of the entire planet with SCP-2203-JP-1. In such a case, the reduction in greenhouse gases as well as the ice-albedo feedback effect will cause all water on the planet to freeze. As eukaryotic organisms cannot live without liquid water, the complete extinction of most organisms is inevitable on most planets possessing an ecosystem.
Upon the complete freezing of a planet's surface as a result of SCP-2203-JP, the planet's atmosphere will gradually increase in greenhouse gas concentration. This is because there is virtually no material that can absorb greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide in a sub-zero environment. Eventually, due to the increase in greenhouse gases, the atmospheric temperature will increase, eventually reaching 0°C. As soon as any part of the planet's surface reaches 0°C, ice will begin to melt and ice-albedo feedback will weaken, allowing temperatures to rise further and causing the rest of the ice on the planet to melt. Folowing this, the process lasting hundreds of millions to billions of years prior to the activation of SCP-2203-JP will repeat itself.
Research by Foundation astrophysicists has shown that all habitable planets, including the Earth, have this defense mechanism and have likely undergone several "resets" in this manner. Preventing the activation of SCP-2203-JP in the present day would require the human race to abandon a part of its technology; however, there is no way to coordinate this either within or outside the Foundation.