Google Earth Going Green…
A few years ago a website called Blackle.com was born. This was a website which was created to look and function just like Google’s search home page, but in black so as to use less energy than the official white Google home page. And this site was not made by Google. Further it was intended to show the wastefulness of Google to the world, by displaying how much energy is saved by doing your searches via Blackle.com instead.
Well, here’s an example which shows a kinder, gentler, possibly greener side to Google. Just for balance’s sake.
There is a website called I Love Mountains. If you go to this site you can input your zip code and find out how much you rely on coal mining derived from the removal of mountain tops in your zone. Using Google Earth’s API, I Love Mountains shows you your city, your city’s power utility company, and from where its coal is derived…all on a Google Earth map. Neat, huh?
Google Earth has endorsed the “I Love Mountains” site, and their National Memorial for the Mountains is actually included as part of the Google Earth software now. The Memorial appears in Google Earth as a field of nearly 500 American flags across the entire Appalachian Mountain range. Each flag represents a mountain which is has had its top removed for the purposes of mining the coal inside.
If you want more information on mining and mountain tops, check out the ilovemountains.org link above.
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