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With deforestation, global warming and climate change the new buzz words on everyone's lips, more and more people want to know: Where's the beef from? Knowing what's in burgers and fries is no longer enough. Environmentally aware consumers want to know how the beef, chicken or vegetables got to their dinner plates. Consumers now want health and justice.

"Global, zoomable time-lapse map... View stunning phenomena such as the sprouting of Dubai's artificial Palm Islands, the retreat of Alaska's Columbia Glacier, the deforestation of the Brazilian Amazon and urban growth in Las Vegas from 1984 to 2012 Using Google Earth Engine technology, we sifted through 2,068,467 images-a total of 909 terabytes of data-to find the highest-quality pixels (e.g., those without clouds), for every year since 1984 and for every spot on Earth. We then compiled these into enormous planetary images, 1.78 terapixels each, one for each year. As the final step, we worked with the CREATE Lab at Carnegie Mellon University, recipients of a Google Focused Research Award, to convert these annual Earth images into a seamless, browsable HTML5 animation. Check it out on Google's Timelapse website."

Google's global, zoomable time-lapse map illustrates land use change phenomena such as the sprouting of Dubai's artificial Palm Islands, the retreat of Alaska's Columbia Glacier, deforestation of the Brazilian Amazon, and urban growth in Las Vegas. "Using Google Earth Engine technology, we sifted through 2,068,467 images-a total of 909 terabytes of data-to find the highest-quality pixels (e.g., those without clouds), for every year since 1984 and for every spot on Earth. We then compiled these into enormous planetary images, 1.78 terapixels each, one for each year. As the final step, we worked with the CREATE Lab at Carnegie Mellon University, recipients of a Google Focused Research Award, to convert these annual Earth images into a seamless, browsable HTML5 animation."

UC SANTA BARBARA (US) - Human land-use activity has begun to change the regional water and energy cycles of parts of the Amazon basin. A new study published in the journal Nature also shows ongoing interactions of deforestation, fire, and climate change have the potential to alter carbon storage, rainfall patterns, and river discharge on an even larger scale.

"EcoTipping Points are small actions that tip the balance from decline to restoration by tapping the inborn power of nature and human societies to heal themselves." Case studies range from community gardens in NYC to reversing tropical deforestation in Thailand.

"Bird species in rainforest fragments in Brazil that were isolated by deforestation disappeared then reappeared over a quarter-century, according to research results published today in the journal PLoS (Public Library of Science) ONE. Scientists thought many of the birds had gone extinct."

"The most interesting finding from the study was that roads impact biodiversity independently of deforestation, via more cryptic forms of disturbance. These disturbances include reduction in habitat quality, increased risk of forest fires, and, perhaps most importantly, the facilitation of human access to undisturbed lands, increasing the potential for illegal logging, poaching, and colonization. "

High-resolution earth imagery has provided ecologists and conservationists with a dynamic new tool that is enabling everything from more accurate counting of wildlife populations to rapid detection of deforestation, illegal mining, and other changes in the landscape.

"From Brazil to Borneo, new roads are being built into tropical forests at a dizzying pace, putting previously intact wilderness at risk. If we hope to preserve rainforests, a leading researcher says, new strategies must be adopted to limit the number of roads and reduce their impacts. "

"A transcontinental highway under construction in Peru and Brazil is bringing the prospects of economic opportunity and environmental ruin to some of the most remote places on the planet. NPR correspondent Lourdes Garcia-Navarro and staff photographer John Poole traveled the Peruvian route to produce this series."

"Google Earth Engine brings together the world's satellite imagery-trillions of scientific measurements dating back more than 25 years-and makes it available online with tools for scientists, independent researchers, and nations to mine this massive warehouse of data to detect changes, map trends and quantify differences to the earth's surface. "

New aerial photos show an uncontacted tribe on the border of Brazil and Peru in detail. According to a press release by Survival International, the photos "reveal a thriving, healthy community with baskets full of manioc and papaya fresh from their gardens", but a community that is also threatened by illegal loggers from Peru."

These lessons examine how environmental issues such as deforestation are intricately linked to many other social issues, and how organizations such as the Green Belt Movement use certain strategies to mobilize citizen action toward social and environmental justice. These lessons are directed toward grades 9 through 12, and college students for use in the following subject areas: social studies, environmental studies, political science, women's studies, international studies, world history, government and civics.

Political ecologist Susanna Hecht has incurred the wrath of some conservationists by arguing that the notion of the primeval forest is largely a myth and that disturbed forests play a vital ecological function. In an interview with Yale Environment 360, she makes the case for a "new rurality" that places less emphasis on protected forests and more on the areas where people live.