You can spend a few dollars and fund planting a baby tree in the forests of Indonesia. If you want a good look at the forests of Borneo and the Amazon, check out Microsofts’ super globe and sky examination tool downloadable on www.worldwidetelescope.org – one of the finer Microsoft implementations. Beautiful. Here is a “fair use” clip that shows its LOD (level of detail) of how humans hack into the Amazon rain forest.
WWT has less resolution at this stage than Google Earth; but the upward view of the galaxy is this product’s strength. Yes, the view of this planet is rather good, notwithstanding the ability to use your mouse wheel and once the images resolves, but the a space eye view through one of the world’s great telescopes of some of the largest works of natural art you will see. Nebulae and the huge huge galaxies dotted through space like sand. You see a night sky, and can zoom into The Plaiedes – like in this image clip. In the WWT you see it full screen.
Download WWT and maybe you will understand the world’s climate when you look at the Southern Ocean and its furious cloudscape.
And anyone who plants a baby tree – let me know. It would be fun to watch it grow here! We could have a baby tree forest.