Climate Tours in Google Earth

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As delegates from around the world have descended on Cancun for the next round of U.N. climate negotiations (COP16), an awesome new project on Google Earth can take you on a series of global "tours" to better understand the impacts of climate change. Right there from your desk.

The Google Earth Outreach team partnered with former U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan, Wangari Maathai of the Green Belt Movement, CONABIO, and Oceana to create these video tours that cover "adaptation strategies that mitigate the effects of climate change," as well as science's best predictions of various impacts. Here's an intro:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BI5TQXw8Gyc

Former U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan's "tour" reminds viewers that climate change is not just an environmental issue, but a human one. It's long, but fascinating:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nIzUTAQbXgc

As great as these videos are, I recommend even more strongly that you download the IPCC prediction "tours" straight to Google Earth.

Finally, if you're lucky enough to be in sunny Cancun right now, Google is actually hosting some Google Earth workshops throughout the COP. I would bet my bottom dollar that such a workshop would be time better spent than waiting for tardy negotiators.