One of the good things about technology is the way it can be used to help us understand our environment better, and those little marvels called satellites are really great at this sort of thing. As well as spying on us of course.
The Global Forest Watch initiative is a worldwide monitoring service which helps people track and monitor our forests using satellites high in the sky. The project was started way back in 1997, adding new technologies and areas as time passed.
The data is all open and free for anyone to use, although you probably don’t want to spend too much time zoomed into places like South America if you’re of a sensitive disposition. The forestry carnage going on deep in the Brazilian forests is pretty brutal from the looks of it.
Nevertheless it’s a very cool initiative and we just hope that soon all the red areas will be purple or something similar, which will indicate that we’re turning back the tide of deforestation. Cloud cuckoo?