AMAZON
RAINFOREST
WILDFIRES
Fires linked to deforestation
blanket much of Brazil
in smoke, stoking fears that
parts of the rainforest could
turn to dry savanna.2019
EARTH DAY(^2020) TURNS 50
EARTH DAY
2020 TURNS 50
WORLD
POPULATION
IN 2018 7.6 BILLION
FUKUSHIMA
DISASTER
An earthquake
and a tsunami trig-
ger the partial
meltdown of three
reactors at a Japa-
nese power plant
and massive dis-
charges of radioac-
tive material into the
air and sea.
2011
HURRICANE
SANDY
New York floods; dam-
ages reach $73 billion.
2012
LARSEN C ICE SHELF CRACKS
After the Larsen B collapse in 2002,
the next massive ice shelf on the Antarctic
Peninsula begins to crack—just as expected
from climate change.
2016
MEATLESS
BURGERS
...hit the mainstream.
2019
PARIS CLIMATE
AGREEMENT
Leaders of 195 nations
agree to cap global
warming at two degrees
Celsius. Many countries
later announce emissions
cuts—though not enough
to meet the two-degree
goal. President Donald
Trump announces that the
U.S. will withdraw.
2015
U.K. COAL DECLINE
For the first time since the 1880s, the home of the industrial revolution
goes a day without making electricity from coal. The government aims to
shut all coal plants by 2025.
2017
ARCTIC SEA
ICE EXTENT
It shrinks in September
to a record minimum,
about two Alaska- areas
less than average.
2012
DEEPWATER HORIZON OIL SPILL
An oil rig explosion kills 11 workers
and spews more than 130 million gallons of
oil into the Gulf of Mexico, the largest spill
in U.S. history.
2010
2010 S
PHOTOS (FROM 1970S): NASA (EARTH); JAMES P. BLAIR (DDT); ALASKA
STOCK IMAGES/NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC IMAGE COLLECTION (WHALE);
JIM AND JAMIE DUTCHER, NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC CREATIVE (WOLF);
MARKA, GETTY IMAGES (PESTICIDE PLANT); MICHAEL MELFORD
(SUPERFUND); JOEL SARTORE, NAT GEO PHOTO ARK (CONDOR); AP IMAGES
(CHERNOBYL); NASA (OZONE); NATALIE B. FOBES (EXXON); CHARLIE
HAMILTON JAMES (IVORY); JOHN EASTCOTT AND YVA MOMATIUK, NGIC
(EAGLE); SARAH LEEN (GAS PUMPS); JOEL SARTORE, NAT GEO PHOTO ARK
(FERRET); CRAIG CUTLER (RICE); JOEL SARTORE (FROGS); PARAMOUNT
CLASSICS, PHOTOFEST (INCONVENIENT TRUTH); DAVID GUTTENFELDER
(SOLAR PANELS); NATIONAL MOTOR MUSEUM, GETTY IMAGES (TESLA); JIM
RICHARDSON (SEED BANK); INGO ARNDT (BEE); STEPHEN ALVAREZ (BAT);
LAURI PATTERSON, GETTY IMAGES (BURGER); CHARLIE RIEDEL, AP PHOTO
(OIL SPILL); NASA EARTH OBSERVATORY, JOHN SONNTAG (LARSEN C);
MATTHEW ABBOTT, NEW YORK TIMES (AUSTRALIA); VICTOR MORIYAMA,
GETTY IMAGES (AMAZON)
CHART BY NGM STAFF. SOURCE: NOAA
MAMMAL EXTINCTION
It’s the first caused by climate change:
the Bramble Cay melomys, an Australian rodent.
2016
AUSTRALIAN WILDFIRES
(^2019) They burn an area larger than Iceland, killing up to a billion animals.
(^20)
(^11)
(^20)
(^12)
(^20)
(^13)
(^20)
(^14)
(^20)
(^15)
(^20)
(^16)
(^20)
(^17)
(^20)
(^18)
(^20)
(^19)
(^20)
(^10)
STORY NAME 89