Ecorazzi

Google today introduced its latest addition to its Google Earth product — Google Ocean — but first they highlighted a major new feature that will definitely help environmentalists show natural changes, both good and bad. In a nutshell, they’ve added historical imagery to the static satellite images we’re all used to seeing. To demo the product and show how this could be useful, Google wisely invited Al Gore to the stage. The former Vice-President talked about using images in his slideshows — and how important (and painstakingly difficult) those before and after photos were in showing the true damage of climate change. “With the new version of Google Earth and its historic imagery feature, you can do it in a much more compelling way,” he said. Gore then showed images (using Google’s new history feature) of Granell Glacier in Glacier National Park and how its been receding over time. “This is an extremely powerful educational tool,” he said; adding that he hopes others will “see for themselves”.

I just downloaded Google Earth 5.0 and played around with the feature myself. It’s really quite powerful — in looking at the glacier demoed above, you can go back to 1991 satellite imagery to see how far the ice has receded since then. To depress yourself even more, jaunt on down to the Amazonian Rainforest and take a look at satellite views dating back to the 70s. Bye-bye trees! If you would like see entire mountains disappear, hit the Appalachian region and shoot back only 13 years ago. Lost Mountain is actually still there in these photos — perhaps the only proof that such a beautiful place actually once existed.

I have nothing but praise for Google for making this data available to the public. For environmentalists, it will definiltey be a powerful tool in showing how we’ve changed nature — and where we might be headed if we don’t do a better job of respecting it. Ready to go back and forth in time? Check out Google Earth 5.0 here.