World of Change

Inspired by the 10th anniversary, the Earth Observatory has pulled together a special series of NASA satellite images documenting how our world—forests, oceans, human landscapes, even the Sun—has changed during the previous decade.

http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Features/WorldOfChange/


The state of Rondônia in western Brazil is one of the most deforested parts of the Amazon. In the past three decades, clearing and degradation of the state’s original 208,000 square kilometers of forest (about 51.4 million acres, an area slightly smaller than the state of Kansas) has been rapid: 4,200 square kilometers cleared by 1978; 30,000 by 1988; and 53,300 by 1998. By 2003, an estimated 67,764 square kilometers of rainforest—an area larger than the state of West Virginia—had been cleared. This equals 33%
European Areas: United Kingdom 244.820 km², Ireland 70.182 km²
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Features/WorldOfChange/deforestation.php

The new Greenpeace report Slaughtering the Amazon tracks beef, leather and other cattle products from ranches involved in illegal deforestation, invasion of indigenous lands and slavery in Brazil back to the supply chains of top brands such as Adidas/Reebok, Timberland, Geox, Carrefour, Eurostar, Honda, Gucci, IKEA, Kraft, Clarks, Nike, Tesco and Wal-Mart.
http://www.greenpeace.org/international/news/amazoncattle01062009