See Endangered Wildlife on a Satellite Map
When you hear the word “endangered” animals like the Giant Panda or the Siberian Tiger are typically the first thing to come to mind. It’s really unfortunate that animals are not the only endangered things on our planet. Unique varieties of plants, insects, sea creatures, and even land have become scarce across the globe. We can look to maps to see how far we have progressed, and to learn how much further we have to improve.
In 1988, National Geographic published an Endangered Earth map. It was the first of its kind to visually exhibit the impact of human growth and industrialization in the grand presentation of a wall map. Not only did it list species extinctions, but the map also showed what areas across the globe were suffering from pollution problems, over population and dangerous Ozone levels.
In 1997, the latest satellite technology enabled National Geographic to come up with a new Endangered Earth Satellite Map. Sadly, the number of red-dots indicating environmentally troubled spots on the globe increased from the previous 1988 version. The imagery of the map overall is more detailed, but the information garnered from it is perhaps the most significant.
Just by taking in both maps overall, climate change and global warming can be seen across the globe. North America and much of Europe and Asia appear to be much drier and less green. The map even discusses some of the changes, like the change in climate, in the paragraphs that surround the world map.
Nowadays, digital maps have become another way to see the areas suffering from extinction across the globe. One of the most interesting extinction maps out there is a map of disappearing languages. Even better is the fact that the map also leads you to a whole movement called the Enduring Voices Project, which is trying to do something to revitalize the languages that are dying out.
By combining the power of the Internet with the power of maps, maybe we finally have the tools to make positive change to our world.
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