Footprints

Human ecology impacts at a glance

What is the true impact of human ecology on the earth? Have you ever wondered what the earth would look like if there were no people? Do you think it would look any different than it does today? Footprints shows you with a simple mouse rollover. Footprints features an interactive rollover of Natural Earth imagery, a graphically enhanced satellite data set that depicts the earth in its ideal state, unaltered by human activity. This is contrasted with the earth's surface as it actually appears today, a planet clearly showing the effects of a population approaching 7 billion. An excellent educational resource for studying the environment and ecology. A soon to be released commercial version will feature recent World Bank visual data on population, growth and the environment, making it a valuable reference tool.