Time-Lapse of Massive Change on Earth

Urbanization of Dubai
Nothing says environmental exploitation like building your own palm tree-shaped archipelago. Dubai, of the United Arab Emirates, has dredged sand from the sea floor to build hundreds of artificial islands along its coast, hoping to attract wealthy tourists. Many projects have been put on hold since the global credit crunch hit the region.


Clearing the Amazon
Over the past three decades, the state of Rondônia in western Brazil cleared almost 35 percent of its rainforest. According to NASA’s website, the pattern of deforestation is common in the Amazon. People build roads, then clear some of the land for small farms. After a few years, the land erodes and becomes depleted. The farmers, suffering from low crop yields, convert the land for cattle, then clear more forest for crops, and so on until large cattle holders buy the land.

Via WIRED