Below are just a sampling of some of NASA’s “Images of change.” If you click on the photo, it will redirect you to the NASA website for further reading and many more incredible images.

The photo above is Lake Chad in Africa. It was once the 6th largest lake in the world. The blue part of the image is the open water, which is clear to see in 1972. By 2002, the red imagery, which represents the wetlands, have overtaken the actual lake, impacting countless humans, animals and other forms of life which relied on Lake Chad for sustenance.

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The photo above is the Matterhorn mountain in the Swiss Alps, 1960 and then again in 2005.

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The photo above is the McCarty Glacier ice melt in Alaska, 1909 and 2004.

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The photo above, and the next two, are of the Muir Glacier ice melt, also in Alaska, and, in my opinion, represent some of the most stark examples of our heating climate.  The photos above are from 1891 and 2005.

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Above: Muir Glacier, Alaska, ice melt, 1882 and 2005.

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Above: Muir Glacier, Alaska ice melt, 1941 and 2004.

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The photo above is the Pedersen Glacier ice melt in Alaska, 1917 and 2005.

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The photo above is the Toboggan Glacier ice melt, also in Alaska, 1909 and 2000.

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Above: Lake shrinkage at Bahr al Milh in Iraq.

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Above: More lake shrinkage. This time in central Asia.

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Above: Explosive urban growth in China…impacting temperatures and wind speeds in the area!

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Above: Saudi Arabian agricultural growth, which may drain this area of water in only 50 years.

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Above: Northwestern Glacier melt, Alaska.

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These images, and not just of Alaska (which is literally melting before our eyes), are astonishing proof of the impact of humans on our planet and, in some cases, illustrate an utter lack of responsible long-term planning.

In the case of Alaska, the Obama administration has recently permitted Shell Oil’s application to drill in the Chukchi Sea which is now more accessible than ever thanks to rapidly melting ice.

The acceleration of these melting events is startling to scientists, and represent just one of the “tipping points,” from which there is no return.