One of the creative artworks shows the dispersal of plastic particles in the air (Google) Four global artists have partnered up with Google’s Arts & Culture division to create a set of interactive visualisations.

The idea is to take data surrounding climate processes and make it accessible to a wider audience. All timed to coincide with Earth Day 2021.

These ‘creative artworks’ are based on findings from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and cover things like plastic particles in the air or the effects of a changing climate on an imaginary coastal city over 80 years.

Another shows an ‘impact filter’ that visualises what species we might lose (like birds, bees and various other species) as temperatures and sea levels rise.

The tide was changing and while the mainstream remained oblivious – or at least indifferent – to the huge environmental issues facing the country, there was a growing group of scientists, students and academics who were beginning to talk about the effects of pollution.

Gaylord Nelson, then a US Senator from Wisconsin, was inspired by resistance to the Vietnam War and, after witnessing the disastrous consequences of the 1969 oil spill in Santa Barbara, California, decided to take action. He recruited like-minded politicians and academics and decided on April 22, which fell between spring break and final exams, as the focal point of the movement.

Thousands of protests, largely mobilised by students, took place across the country, fighting against oil spills, polluting factories and power plants, raw sewage, toxic dumps, pesticides, freeways, the loss of wilderness, and the extinction of wildlife. This eventually led to the creation of the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the passage of numerous environmental acts.