This year's Earth Day Google Doodle is a grim look at climate change's real impact

Friday is Earth Day, the day when our climate anxiety reaches its peak and we look in horror at what we have done to the planet. As a way to remind us that we are not doing enough, a bleak Earth Day Google doodle shows the impact climate change has already had.

There is a variety of GIFs created from photos of real locations, all taken over several years. Each time-lapse GIF will be displayed for a few hours throughout the day, giving you time to think about how we destroyed the world.

When it came to finding landscapes ravaged by climate change, only four were chosen.

The glacier at the peak of Mt. Mt. will be shown in the 2022 Earth Day Doodle. Between December 1986 and 2020 there was a melting away of Kilimanjaro, a retreat of the glaciers in Sermersooq, a coral bleaching in the Great Barrier Reef, and the destruction of the Harz Forests in Elend, Germany.

Glacier retreat at the summit of Mt. Kilimanjaro in Tanzania from December 1986 to 2020. Credit: Google

Glacier retreat in Sermersooq, Greenland from December 2000 to 2020. Credit: Google

Coral bleaching in the Great Barrier Reef from March 2016 to October 2017. Credit: Google / The Ocean Agency

Destruction of the Harz Forests in Germany from December 1995 to 2020. Credit: Google

The footage of Australia's coral bleaching came from The Ocean Agency, a non-profit organisation. On April 21 at 9 p.m., the U.S. will host The Doodle. The time is PDT.

Last year's Earth Day doodle had a more positive vibe, but this one is more dire. You cannot say that the situation doesn't call for it. If we don't take immediate and drastic action to stop climate change, the disappearance of natural wonders such as these will be the least of our problems.