One Planet, Many People

World Environment Day (WED) came and went on June 5th -- it was marked by the global theme: Green Cities -- Plan for the Planet! To commemorate WED, the UN, along with the USGS and NASA have released One Planet, Many People, an Atlas of Our Changing Environment. The atlas compares and contrasts some stunning views of the planet as seen from orbit over the past few decades.

The images are beautiful and frightening. The global scale of human habitation; the misuse and abuse of the planet is startling in the images. The atlas shows human encroachment of pristine environs, as cities grow and human infestation follows. Deforestation is startling when you see once green forests turn to deserts. The rise in global temperature is quite apparent when glaciers disappear, and ice caps melt from mountain tops. We're doing this, we're doing it to ourselves. As Klaus Toepfer of the UN explains:

"Cities pull in huge amounts of resources including water, food, timber, metals and people. They export large amounts of wastes including household and industrial wastes, wastewater and the gases linked with global warming. Thus their impacts stretch beyond their physical borders affecting countries, regions and the planet as a whole. So the battle for sustainable development, for delivering a more environmentally stable, just and healthier world, is going to be largely won and lost in our cities."

Samples of the Atlas can be found at the UN's site. The 332-page atlas can also be ordered directly from the site for US $150.