Reader Question: So how is the planet doing?
by Michael Graham Richard, Ottawa, Canada 
on 07.25.06
Reader Andre needs help: "I'm part of a project that is gathering in one place all the global statistics on how the earth is doing. The project is called the "State of the World." I need help finding measures for the planet as a whole. For instance, Yale has the Environmental Performance Index, which is global in scope. And the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change tracks everything from temperature change to carbon dioxide concentration in the atmosphere. Terralingua is tracking something unique they call Biocultural Diversity. What are other groups tracking? What global measures are there for biodiversity, ocean health, arable land, rainforest, ice coverage, number of species, etc? If you'd like a copy of the results, send an email to aangel [at] InspiringGreenLeadership [dot] com. Thank you for helping out, Andre Angelantoni." If you think you can help, please email him or leave a comment. My suggestion? The Happy Planet Index!
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UN Environment Program
The planet is FINE. There's nothing wrong with the planet. Earth is just spinning along happily.
WE are F***ED :)
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editor note: It's not just us. I suggest you read Tim Flannery's book about climate change and its impact on biodiversity, both on land and in the oceans.
I would recommend Worldwatch Institute's Vital Signs. The Skeptical Environmentalist has a lot of interesting statistics and comes from another perspective. UNESCO has good statistics about education and science from a global perspective.
NASA's Earth Observatory has some cool maps and interesting analysis of what is happening on earth as seen by satellites. For example, while biodiversity is going down, the total amount of life on earth as measured by Net Primary Productivity has actually increased on average by 6% from 1982 to 1999.
Oh, and with regards to the Happy Planet, while I like the concept I think its implementation has issues, which Alex at World Changing eloquently summed up.
Thanks for the posts. Please keep them coming.
Jon Weber emailed this to me directly:
http://ozonewatch.gsfc.nasa.gov/
-Andre'
Any chance that this project can become the Dashboard for Spaceship Earth?
Hi, gsmoke.
Is this Dashboard for Spaceship Earth a project that already exists or is this something that you are suggesting? It's a great idea.