Regardless of your views on climate change, Google Earth has proven to be simply the perfect tool to lay out the various scenarios that we are facing. In the past, we’ve shown you items such as the Climate Change Tour of Cold Places and various tools related to the COP15 conference in Copenhagen last year.
The latest tool to be released comes from the UK Government, with data from the FCO (British Foreign and Commonwealth Office) and the DECC (Department of Energy and Climate Change), showing the potential impact of a 4 degree rise in global temperature. They believe that global warming must be contained to 2 degrees Celsius, which this project illustrates.
Here’s what they have to say about it:
On 14th July, the FCO and DECC launched an interactive map showing some of the possible impacts of a global temperature rise of 4 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial times. It underlines why the UK Government and other countries believe we must keep global warming to 2 degrees Celsius. The map includes videos from the contributing scientists, led by the Met Office Hadley Centre, talking about their research. It also includes examples of what the FCO and British Council are doing to build understanding globally of the urgent need for all countries to accelerate the transition to a low carbon economy.
To check it out, you can visit www.fco.gov.uk/4degrees
and view it using the Google Earth Plug-in or by downloading their KML file to your computer.
About Mickey Mellen
Mickey has been using Google Earth since it was released in 2005, and has created a variety of geo-related sites including Google Earth Hacks. He runs a web design firm in Marietta, GA, where he lives with his wife and two kids.
I need help please – told I needed a new version but it will not download – get error Code OX80040204! Can anyone help?