22 Most Amazing Maps Changing How We See The World : TreeHugger

reading a map photo
Photo via Andrew Turner

Maps. They make everything a little bit better. They have the capacity to turn confusing, nebulous, and unimaginable information into visual masterpieces of understanding. And when we can see the information, we're more likely to do something useful with it. The year 2009 brought us some incredible maps, illustrating things like how the earth's carbon cycle works which then unveiled new understanding about how carbon emissions from one country affect other parts of the planet; or how wilderness is disappearing, which pointed out some surprising conclusions about how little space humans actually inhabit while still impacting massive amounts of the globe. Here, we've gathered up some of the most impressive maps we saw over the year, from interactive maps, to those that please the eye, to those that tried to make a difference in the world. Enjoy!

Interesting Interactive Maps

interactive climate change map image
Image via the BBC

How Climate Change Impacts The World
Climate change can be a tough concept to grasp. Its impacts go well beyond, "Gee, is today a degree hotter than yesterday?" Rather, we have to contend with a domino-meets-spider-web scenario. Rising sea levels, melting glaciers, more droughts, more rainfall, more storms, and on and on. But, enter the interactive map and we can finally start to see - literally see - what climate change is doing across the globe.

Water Stressed Areas Over Next 60 Years
Ever want to know how population growth, industrialization and global warming are all impacting the growing water crisis? BBC News has created this fantastic map that shows you just how much less water will be available per person in the coming years across the planet, making the importance of conservation and changed habits very apparent.

Tour a Renewable Energy Site in Denmark
If you've ever wanted to tour a renewable energy site, here is your chance with the EnergyMap. It details projects in continental Europe (mostly Denmark), the UK, Turkey and China, showing renewable energy, energy efficiency, fossil fuel projects, climate adaptation projects, and a few other project areas are all covered. It's an excellent research tool.

power grid map image
Interactive Power Grid Map
Maps are the best way to visualize what is happening, where, and at what levels, and being able to visualize power generation and power consumption is a key to improving our use. Google Earth Maps have been a big help in this, of course. NPR's interactive map showing who is using what energy supplies and where is a cool tool because it makes what often feels like distant information very easy to access and understand.

US Wind, Solar & Biomass Power Potential Map
The National Resources Defense Council and the Audubon Society released a Google Earth layer that mapped out what areas in the western United States are and should be off-limits to protect certain ecosystems and wildlife habitat. Here, the NRDC has a companion map (not for Google Earth) that shows wind farms, advanced biofuel facilities and biodigester projects either existing or planned, across the whole country, as well as color coding the energy potential for each technology.

Interactive Carbon Capture & Storage Maps
Undoubtedly you've heard all the talk about clean coal technologies, with the prime technology being capturing and storing the carbon emissions from that coal. All opinion about the oxymoron that is "clean coal" aside, here is a map that shows who is working on CCS technologies and where, thanks to Bellona.

City of Paris Maps Electric Vehicle Charging Stations
One of the main concerns that people have when you talk to them about electric cars and trucks is "where to charge your batteries when you're not at home?". The city of Paris, France, is helping answer that question by creating a website with a map of the EV charging stations. Since it's online, it's easily accessible, and it can be updated in real-time.

Interactive Map Shows How Climate Change Is Effecting Your Area
Climate change has already, and often very evidently, begun to effect ecosystems and weather patterns around the globe. Knowing exactly what sort of impact climate change is having on the region which you live is a good way to bring the concept home. This handy online map at Climate Hot Map, you can see for yourself what's going on right in your own town and surrounding ecosystem. You simply click on regions of the map, and the program will display exactly what ills are taking place there.

epa facilities map image
Interactive Map of Facilities Guilty of Eco-Crimes
The EPA has released a new interactive map that lays out the locations of facilities across the US that have violated environmental laws, been caught by the EPA, and subjected to enforcement actions. As facilities are caught for polluting air, water and land, the information about the actions taken against them by the EPA, the monies gathered from them as law suits are settled, and other criminal enforcement actions are recorded and the information made available via plots on the map. We can hop on this map to check out what is going on nearby, and have access to information about the polluters in our local areas.

Interactive Map of Climate Emissions & Pledges
The Associated Press has put out an interesting interactive map of climate change data, including the emission trends from countries in the northern hemisphere, graphs of the various indicators of global warming such as glacier melts and global temperatures, and the pledges that different countries have made when it comes to reducing greenhouse gas emissions. It's in this map that the United States really stands out...but not in a good way.