New Google Earth feature shows devastating effects of climate change

Google has announced its biggest update to Google Earth in years: the ability to view the past 37 years of our planet in a new feature called ‘Timelapse’.

The feature, enabled by 24 million satellite photos compiled into a 4D experience, means that anyone can see how the world has changed and get a better picture of the environmental difficulties we now face.

“Our planet has seen rapid environmental change in the past half-century — more than any other point in human history. Many of us have experienced these changes in our own communities; I myself was among the thousands of Californians evacuated from their homes during the state’s wildfires last year. For other people, the effects of climate change feel abstract and far away, like melting ice caps and receding glaciers,” a Google representative said in the search giant’s announcement.