An amazing way to see one of the more important parts of the earth on Earth Day

Today on Earth Day many of us are taking this opportunity to talk to our kids about recycling and sustainability and turning off the lights. Or maybe they're talking to us--a group of six year olds informed me yesterday that it takes a juice box 110 years to disappear from the landfills.

While I'm all for conservation efforts that start in our own backyard, I like the chance to talk about the global backyard too. Which is why I love the idea of this incredible tour of the Amazon, without even leaving your home. Let alone buying carbon credits to get to Sao Felix.

 

As of just a few weeks ago, Google Maps allows you to tour the Amazon using Street View. This is actually pretty mindblowing when you read on the Google Blog just what went into it, including a special eco-friendly camera rig, a fisheye lens, a partnership with the Amazonas Sustainable Foundation, and more than 50,000 still photos stitched together.

Click over and you'll get a 360-degree view of this incredible part of our earth, as if you were right on the ground, hiking the trails and harvesting Brazil nuts. You can even experience areas with otherwise restricted access, like the Rio Negro Reserve.

It's the perfect opportunity to introduce an older kid to the concept of deforestation and just why the Amazon rainforest is so important to all of us. 40,000 plant species alone would agree. -Liz

Check out the Google Earth Outreach team's street view of the Amazon, and see the Amazon gallery for more. If you want more information on preserving the Amazon, check out the Nature Conservancy website at Nature.org.

[ht inhabitat]

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