Timelapse of the Earth over the last 30 years

person

Using satellite images, Google and NASA have worked together to show us timelapse images of how the Earth has changed due to human development over the past 30 years.










I was disturbed by the fact that congress is considering stopping these satellites. It seems like an effort to keep us in the dark about the effects we are having on the planet.

MaryAnne

Looks kind of like 'cancer' cells spreading over (and forever corrupting) a live organism..... oh wait a minute.... that's exactly what we are. :-/

sndymorn

Are there pictures of growing glaciers? How about areas where rivers and lakes are cleaner than thirty years ago? Have somelaces been re forested and therefore greener than the past? Where is the pictorial evidence? What is the agenda of this film maker do you think?
We, that is we people of the earth,are not a cancer , we are all just trying to live a happy life with as many comforts as we can afford. Have we dirtied the place up? Yep. Can we fix it? Absolutely. Cancer cells do not care what they destroy. We people do care and are making an effort to clean up our mess. We will get there. It is far from too late.

karasti

I always like the graphic that goes around FB once in a while, with the earth with a thermometer and a "doctor planet" saying "Oh, I'm sorry, you have the humans."
The project above actually has world wide map, you can look at any area of the world, including your town, and see the differences, it's pretty interesting. Except a couple of small areas, my area hasn't changed much. I hope it stays that way. It's actually quite a lot smaller in population than it was 30 years ago. It's always sad to me to see so much continued development in forested area when there are SO many homes for sale already. Really? All these people building homes can't find a single one that suits their needs? Seems really selfish to me.

A lot of people don't care, and I'm not convinced it's not too late. The attitudes of "we don't care what it takes, we want more money" are extremely pervasive. Not to mention a crazy percentage of Americans believe we don't need to do anything about global warming or the environment because they believe the second coming of Jesus is imminent. It'd be interesting to know what that statistic is around the world.

The amount of melting glacial/arctic water that is dumping into the ocean right now is astonishing, and very concerning. Not only for sea levels but because all that cold water dumping in at a fast rate has a significant effect on the jet stream. All that aside, the fresh water situation on the planet is fast becoming serious. We don't even give it thought because we just turn on the faucet and out it comes. But it's a fairly serious situation. Not only are most people not even aware, the ones that are mostly don't care because they think it doesn't affect them. They actually believe water is an infinite resource.

karasti

Here is the interactive map. For some reason it defaults to Las Vegas but you can search for any location in the world and it'll give you a few second video showing the change over 30 years.
http://earthengine.google.org/#intro/LasVegas

An article about the study on global warming and belief in Jesus' second coming
http://www.examiner.com/article/study-literal-belief-jesus-and-the-bible-restrict-climate-change-legislation

Florian

@karasti - Agree with your anlaysis. I suspect that Las Vegas will lead the way in the race to run out of water. We spend all out time takling about carbon emissions when it's just one small part of the problem.

My local council has just had it's five year plan rejected by the State because it is not planning to build enough houses. They don't want any more houses, and not do the people who live here. Doesn't matter. A rising population is crucial for economic growth.
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