I think the first time I saw this image was during The Climate Project Asia Pacific Summit 2011 in Jakarta, early January 2011. But then I saw this again recently, while watching Janine Benyus’ TED talk 2009 online and I am still amazed by it.

Global water and air volume

Image credits: Dr. Adam Neiman and The Science Photo Library

The balls on the left shows the comparison of the earth volume and the volume of water; while the small ball on the right show the volume of air. These images show how obviously finite our water and air supplies are. To quote Benyus,

Living organisms that have lived and evolved for billions of years have figured out ways to have their genetic materials remain without destroying the place that gives them life. We, human beings, are among the youngest species on earth – we should learn from them, firstly by quieting our cleverness and starting to be their apprentices.

Now, think about how we would conduct our daily lives and produce things without taking away the rights of our next generations to live on a life-giving earth.