7 Graphics Explain the State of the World’s Water
Every person on Earth should have access to reliable water supplies. Water is essential for sanitation, hygiene and daily survival, but in some places conflict over water is becoming more commonplace. To recognize the importance of water for everything we do, we compiled seven graphics that explain the state of the world’s vital water resources. Human Activity […]
Ships Spend Hundreds of Thousands of Hours a Year Trawling in Europe’s Marine Protected Areas
When you picture a marine protected area, you might think of a diverse ecosystem where fish, sharks and corals thrive in a healthy, protected habitat. You probably don’t imagine industrial fishing operations scraping the depths of the ocean with large trawling nets. But using data from Global Fishing Watch and the World Database of Protected Areas, we […]
Map: Where the World Gets Its Chocolate
Valentine’s Day might as well be called Chocolate Day, so closely is it associated with the delightfully addictive flavoring. Cocoa, the essential ingredient in chocolate, is made from the fermented, dried and roasted beans of the tropical cacao tree. About 60 percent of the world’s cocoa is produced in just two countries: Côte d’Ivoire and […]
There Were 137 Oil Spills in the US in 2018. See Where They Happened.
< Blog Oil spills don’t make the news very often unless they are big, like the 2010 Deepwater Horizon spill, which killed 11 people and spewed an estimated 205 million gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico. But spills happen frequently. According to data from the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), there were 137 oil spills […]
The State of Electricity Access, in 3 Maps
< Blog Share Share on facebook Share on twitter Share on email Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced in April 2018 that every village in India now has access to electricity. Although this achievement didn’t receive much attention, it’s one of the biggest milestones in the history of energy, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA). Since […]
Where’s the Pig Capital of the World?
There are at least three times as many animals raised for food each year than there are people on the planet. Raising these 22 billion animals uses more land than any other human activity, and in some places there are way more livestock than there are people. This got me wondering: Where is the pig capital of the […]
How Much Beef is Too Much for the Climate?
< Blog When you think about tackling climate change, solar panels and wind turbines might come to mind, but not necessarily the food you put on your plate. Researchers at the World Resources Institute (WRI) released a report this week detailing a five-course menu of solutions for a sustainable food system. The report contains several recommendations for […]
Here’s What Smoke from California’s Wildfires Looks Like from Space
< Blog Several wildfires are still burning through California as of this morning. The Camp Fire in Northern California has killed at least 48 people and is now the deadliest ever recorded. The fire has burned 130,000 acres near Paradise, 80 miles north of Sacramento. Near Thousand Oaks, Woolsey Fire and Hill Fire have also burned nearly 102,000 acres and killed […]
5 Water-Stressed River Basins to Watch
Many of the world’s earliest civilizations settled near rivers because of their access to water and relatively fertile soils. Mesopotamia, for example, a historical region that now makes up Iraq and some of eastern Turkey and Syria, is nestled between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, and is thought to be one of the birth places […]
4 Maps Show Opportunities for Limiting Climate Change
Climate change has been in the news quite a bit lately, especially in the aftermath of a hurricane season that has left parts of North Carolina and Florida in need of serious rebuilding. The topic was even brought up during a “60 Minutes” interview on CBS with President Trump last Sunday evening. A lot of […]
