Saying Goodbye to Planet Earth

Have you said goodbye to the rainforest yet? Based on the current levels of deforestation the Amazonian rainforest will be gone in about 250 years time. By the year 2260 most of the rainforest will probably be lost forever. This horrifying forecast comes from a new mapping tool called Co$ting Nature and is based on the current rate of deforestation in the Amazon.

Infoamazonia used the Co$ting Nature information & environment service to project the effects of the current rates of deforestation in the Amazon on the size of the rainforest. The results of the projections can be viewed on Infoamazonia's interactive Forest Cover Through Time map. The map shows Co$ting Nature's projections for the extent of the forest's cover up until it is almost completely destroyed. Just select the date buttons above the map to view the projected forest cover for a specific year.

Infoamazonia's Forest Cover Through Time map is just the latest visualization of the uncertain future humans face if we don't learn to curtail our current levels of consumption. For example, Climate Central recently released an interactive map which reveals how hot your city will be in the year 2100, if carbon emissions continue as currently predicted.

Climate Central's Shifting Cities allows you to choose from a large number of major cities around the world to view the results of global warming in 2100. Climate Impact Lab's Climate Impact Map also visualizes how global warming will effect temperatures around the world over the rest of this century.

The University of Hawaii has released a similar interactive map which uses expected temperature increases to predict the number of deadly days we can expect from extreme heat around the world for each year up to 2100. Heatwaves: Number of deadly heat days provides a timeline control which allows you to view the number of deadly days for any year from 1950-2100.

Thanks to NOAA's Sea Level Rise Viewer we can also observe how these increases in temperature will effect sea levels. By the end of this century the National Climate Assessment estimates that sea levels may rise by up to 6.6 feet. NOAA's interactive map uses the most accurate elevation data available to model how different extents of sea level rise will impact coastal areas in the USA up to the year 2100.