What on Earth!
That's What Google Wants Us to Know …

If everyone cared and nobody cried
If everyone loved and nobody lied
If everyone shared and swallowed their pride
Then we'd see the day when nobody died …
     —Nickleback

April 23, 2007—Since time immemorial we humans have attempted to map the sky. Since 2005 Google Earth has turned the telescope, so to speak, and avidly maps our planet.

Google gets a lot of help from some 200 million users—people with keen instincts and even better eyes who spot corn mazes being cut, volcanoes erupting, kites flying, and surfers riding the waves.

If we're to survive as a species, though, some events should not be left to chance encounters. This is why Google has teamed with the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum to map the changing landscape in Darfur.

Some readers of PC World's blog think it's less than fair that the devastation in Darfur is being mapped but not Palestine or other locations in which conflict or the potential for conflict is an everyday occurrence. Where else should Google Earth, Youthink and you be looking? Tell Us!

Earth to Google, Come in Google …

Wired Magazine debunked last week's rumor that the Sudanese government was blocking its citizens from downloading Google Earth.

Turns out, it's Google! Why? Glad you asked.

It appears Google is caught up in the twister of US export restrictions, which prohibit the export of, among other items, goods, technology and services to Sudan.

Ogle Earth may just sum it up best: While sanctions have been known to work in the past, it's ironic that what may be the "single best tool for visualizing the genocide" in Sudan is not available in Sudan … It's like pilot losing radio contact with the control tower or a drowning man with a lifeline …

Darfur FAQs

Where is Darfur?

Darfur is a region of far western Sudan, bordering the Central African Republic, Libya, and Chad. View NATO Map »

How many people live in Darfur?

USAID reports that approximately 6.5 million people live in Darfur, though a third—some 2.5 million—have been driven from their homes.

How many have died?

An exact number is not known, though the UN reports some 400,000 have died due to violence or starvation.

What's the international community doing to help?

In addition to humanitarian aid and economic sanctions, the member governments of the United Nations are actively working to get Sudan to agree to the deployment of a large multi-national force in Darfur.

How can I help?

People like you and me need to be aware to care, but the genocide is so unbelievable that we have a hard time getting that it's real, today, now.

So we need to take the time to find out what's going on and explore ways in which we can be actively involved. We can start by talking with our family and friends, sharing links, signing online petitions, writing our politicians, and creating messages of hope and caring.

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