The world is a greener place than it was 20 years ago.
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Our planet has huge climate issues. The weather has become chaotic, and our climate is drastically changing.
But despite the many ‘global warming’ related issues we are facing, a new study has found our planet is becoming ‘greener and leafier’.
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Image Credit: NASA Earth Observatory.
A recent NASA study has shown that two of the most inhabited countries on Earth are also responsible for the largest increase in green foliage.
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Based on extensive satellite imagery, scientists have found that both China and India are responsible for a greener Earth.
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The world is a greener place than it was 20 years ago, as shown on this map, where areas with the greatest increase in foliage are indicated in dark green. Image Credit: NASA Earth Observatory.
According to the new study, since the year 2000, our planet’s ‘green areas’ have increased by as much as five percent.
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In numbers, this means that there are more than two million square miles that have become greener and leafier.
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Image Credit: NASA Earth Observatory.
As noted by NASA, this area equals the sum total of the Amazon rainforests.
“China and India account for one-third of the greening, but contain only 9% of the planet’s land area covered in vegetation — a surprising finding, considering the general notion of land degradation in populous countries from overexploitation,” Chi Chen, the study’s lead author explained in a statement.
The new data was collected by NASA’s MODIS tool, located on two satellites orbiting Earth, and in charge of snapping high-res images of our planet’s surface.
As noted by the American Space Agency, China is responsible for as much as a quarter of the total increase in green areas. According to NASA, from the total, 42% comes from forests and as much as 32% from farmlands.
India, on the other hand, has contributed as much as 6.8 percent to the rise of green areas on Earth, where 82% comes from croplands and 4.4% from forests.
