originally posted on, turn21.org
Evolution, which tends to build organisms that are “just good enough” to get by, has left us ill-equipped to deal with spans of time longer than a human lifetime. We need some help in this visualization exercise, and help is just a click, or three clicks, away.
First up, this 3-minute animation maps the 4.54 billion year history of our planet onto a great circle arc from Los Angeles to New York City. Hat tip to Rob for this one!
Next, Population Connection brings us this 5.5-minute video with a dramatic rendering of the last 2000 years of human population growth.
And finally, 300 Years of Fossil Fuels in 300 Seconds talks and sketches us through the last 200 years of our incredible journey—the industrial revolution—and asks us to think about what’s next. Created by Post Carbon Institute.