More heartening news that the geoweb (GIS, digital earths) could aid in communicating climate change:
In the article, Satellite Images Bridge Understanding Gap between Climate Change and Individuals, Kevin Corbley reports on a meeting between remote sensing vendors and Google Earth to promote the idea that geoweb could connect people to what was happening at the Earth’s poles, where climate change is particularly severe.
Some interesting examples in the article:
An application that allows users to view multiple layers of geospatial data linked to locations on Google Earth images: Earth SLOT (Earth Science, Logistics, and Outreach Terrainbases)
SPOT Imagery’s initiative to get climate change related imagery to the public: Planet-Action
There is some irony in the article in a quote from a SPOT Imagery representative:
SPOT’s de Chassy pointed out that while Earth observation satellites have been extremely successful at identifying environmental change, the link with everyday citizens has often been difficult to establish because imagery historically has been too expensive to obtain and too difficult to analyze for anyone but a trained scientist.
Yes, and who was setting the high prices for the images?
Update: Sierra Club British Columbia uses Google Earth to show the impact of sea level rise on the lower mainland of BC.
Step by step instructions on using Google Earth to show sea level rise in the coastal community of one’s choice.