information aesthetics

Points for being thought-provoking, but this is scarily close to propaganda and really doesn't expose enough information to be worth looking at.

I'd prefer to see this information with more context, not just being compared to a bunch of matter we don't really deal with anyway (the gigantic core of the planet).

I agree with bnon, reading the post i barely understand what you're trying to say. you need to think this one out a bit more, graphs are supposed to make things easier to understand.

I don't agree with the commenters who feel this visualization doesn't provide useful information.

I was really struck by the images and feel like I understand something I didn't before. It's something to do with the relatively tiny ratios of water and atmosphere volumes in comparison to the size of the planet. It makes it more difficult to dismiss human impacts with a "c'mon, it's a huge planet - how much damage can we really be doing" attitude.

I think a third sphere would reveal the significance of the first two: something like "the volume of land above water level". Knowing that water covers about 70% of this planet and the deepest ocean trench is deeper than Everest is tall, I'm guessing the comparison wouldn't look so imposing.

also to compare with history we all share, maybe another ball that is the total building material used by humans in the past two millennia. e.g. roads, buildings, etc. i feel that if I knew how much mass we've moved in our existence, I'd appreciate the ball more

I love these. "Propaganda" or not--very thought provoking--the same way the first shot of Earth from space was. It puts things in perspective.

What is the problem with the picture? I did not read anything in the description claiming too much use of anything. I love the picture because it really shows that people just want to find proof to there stories and the other side fights it.

How about a ball including all the water that is below the surface of the earth as well? How much of our water comes from wells anyway?

I just took a dump in that ball of water.

It felt good.

what about a ball for all the biomass on earth?

That ball of water is poised to drown Europe once and for all.