This Timelapse Shows Just How Much Human Activity Has Altered The Planet

A collaborative project using satellite imagery displays the massive impact humans have had on the planet in only a short space of time.

by Kevin Holmes

October 23, 2014, 1:45pm

While some people are happy to deny it, human activity since the Industrial Revolution has had a major impact on the planet. Pillaging the land for natural resources, pumping toxins into the atmosphere, destroying habitats -- a new video using satellite imagery from the last 30 years shows just how much these and other forces have altered the earth's surface.

Google Earth Engine collates satellite data from the last 40 years so that anyone—scientists, technologists, you, me—can use it for various applications like "detecting deforestation, classifying land cover, estimating forest biomass and carbon, and mapping the world’s roadless areas."

Recently they've collaborated with the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), NASA and TIME to create the video Earth Engine Timelapse, which shows the changing landscape of our planet but with events condensed to seconds rather than years. Events like Iran's Lake Urmia drying up or the deforestation of the Brazilian rainforest or the Columbia Glacier retreat. It's a real eye-opener.

From the YouTube page:

Working with the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), NASA and TIME, we're releasing more than a quarter-century of images of Earth taken from space, compiled for the first time into an interactive time-lapse experience. We believe this is the most comprehensive picture of our changing planet ever made available to the public.

Built from millions of satellite images and trillions of pixels, you can explore this global, zoomable time-lapse map as part of TIME's new Timelapse project. View stunning phenomena such as the sprouting of Dubai’s artificial Palm Islands, the retreat of Alaska’s Columbia Glacier, the deforestation of the Brazilian Amazon and urban growth in Las Vegas from 1984 to 2012.