It all started with a happy stroke : When he was prepping for a meeting in 2013 , messing around with a function program , Benjamin Grant typed in “ land ” to see if the programme would zoom out . But instead , it zoomed in , to Earth , Texas . Grant was mesmerized by the persona of tilled land and fields , neat squares with circle in the center . Not long after , he make the web log DailyOverview , stitching together photos from satellite companyDigitalGlobe ’s image library to create stunning pictures of the Earth from above .
In 2016 , three yr after he looked at crop circles around Earth , Texas , Grant releasedOverview : A New Perspective on Earth , which contains more than 220 jaw - dropping photos . “ When I first started the project , I resolve that all of the images would focus on places of human impact , ” Grant told Mental Floss via e-mail in 2016 . “ consequently , the first eight chapters of the book are organize by the major theme that arose over the course the daily installments of the project , categorizing the most seeable manifestations of our activity that can be seen from a cosmic perspective ( ‘ Where We reap ’ , ‘ Where We Extract ’ , ‘ Where We Power ’ , etc . ) . The final chapter , however , serves as a contrast to the forego images and instead focuses on places where our encroachment is less obvious ( ‘ Where We Are Not ’ ) . ”
To find the places he boast in the Holy Scripture , Grant commence with a thought experiment , first moot the themes that make up the first eight chapters and then looking for new places to capture within those base . “ For example , if I want to show an Overview related to energy , I could begin with a search for a list of solar panel facilities , ” he said . “ Then I could inspect those location through the planet imagery , keeping in mind that I would only include a position in the book if it had a very warm visual charm or a particularly gripping story to tell . ”
Both Daily Overview and theOverviewbook take their gens from the “ Overview Effect , ” the feeling spaceman experience when they see our planet from space for the first metre : Awe , and a sudden clarity about the fragility of our planet . Grant hop his book would give earthbound humans standardised feelings .
“ Ultimately , I believe these mental image can be used as a agency to get masses thinking about our build environs , about how we are impacting the planet , and if I am successful in my composing , masses will at least start looking , ” he say . “ Then the concise explanation that accompanies each Overview will hopefully inspire a overbold curiosity about our planet and also arouse awareness about the current state of our one and only home base . ” Here are eight of Mental Floss ’s favourite image fromOverview , accompanied by their captions .
1. Davis-Monthan Air Force Base Aircraft Boneyard // 32·151087°, –110·826079°
“ The gravid aircraft storage and saving installation in the world is located at Davis - Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson , Arizona , USA . The boneyard — run by the 309th Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group — contains more than 4400 retire American military and government aircrafts . ”
2. Gemasolar Thermosolar Plant // 37·560755°, –5·331908°
“ This Overview captures the Gemasolar Thermosolar Plant in Seville , Spain . The solar concentrator comprise 2,650 heliostat mirror that focus the sun ’s thermal energy to hot up molten salt flow through a 140 - metre - tall ( 460 - foot ) central pillar . The molten salt then circularize from the tower to a repositing army tank , where it is used to give rise steam and generate electrical energy . In sum , the facility displaces approximately 30,000 tonne of carbon dioxide emissions every yr . ”
3. Tulips // 52·276355°, 4·557080°
“ Every yr , tulip fields in Lisse , Netherlands , set about to bloom in March and are in elevation blossom by late April . The Dutch bring about a total of 4.3 billion tulip bulb each year , of which 53 per centum ( 2.3 billion ) is grown into emasculated flowers . Of these , 1.3 billion are sell in the Netherlands as cut heyday and the remainder is exported : 630 million bulbs to Europe and 370 million elsewhere . ”
4. Moab Potash Evaporation Ponds // 38·485579°, –109·684611°
“ drying up ponds are seeable at the potash mine in Moab , Utah , USA . The mine make muriate of potassium hydroxide , a K - contain salt that is a major component in fertilizers . The table salt is pumped to the surface from hugger-mugger brines and dry out in monumental solar ponds that vibrantly offer across the landscape painting . As the piss evaporate over the course of 300 days , the salts crystallize out . The colors that are seen here happen because the H2O is dyed a deep blue , as darker water absorbs more sunlight and passion , thereby reducing the amount of time it takes for the water to evaporate and the potash to crystallize . ”
5. Delray Beach, Florida // 26·475547°, –80·156470°
“ Because many cities in the American state of Florida contain master - design communities , often built on top of waterways in the latter half of the 20th C , there are a number of intricate designing that are visible from the Overview perspective . One exceptional neighborhood in Delray Beach is seen here . ”
6. Port of Singapore // 1·237656°, 103·806422°
“ loading ship and oil tanker — some weighing up to 300,000 metric ton — wait outside the entry to the Port of Singapore . The facility is the existence ’s second - busiest embrasure in terms of total tonnage , ship a one-fifth of the humanity ’s cargo containers and one-half of the humanity ’s yearly supply of crude oil . ”
7. Angkor Wat // 13·412505°, 103·864472°
“ Angkor Wat , a synagogue complex in Cambodia , is the largest spiritual monument in the humanity ( first it was Hindu , then Buddhist ) . Constructed in the twelfth century , the 820,000 square metre ( 8.8 million - satisfying - foot ) site features a fosse and forest that harmoniously skirt a massive tabernacle at its nerve center . ”
8. Nishinoshima Volcanic Activity // 27.243362, 140.874420
“ Nishinoshima is a volcanic island located 940 kilometres ( 584 geographical mile ) to the south of Tokyo , Japan . Starting in November 2013 , the volcano lead off to burst out and continued to do so until August 2015 . Over the course of the eruption , the area of the island maturate in size from 0.06 straightforward kilometres ( 0.02 square miles ) to 2.3 hearty kilometres ( 0.89 square miles ) . ”
A version of this news report originally ran in 2016 ; it has been updated for 2023 .
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