NASA’s Image of the Day shows how our reliance on plants is increasing. From 1995 to 2005, human’s reliance on plants increased from 20.3 percent to 25.6 percent. This is due in part to population growth, as well as people using more plant products.
This map shows the comparison for 2005. The colors represent the ratio between the amount of carbon people require and the amount of carbon Earth produced. At the top of the scale (dark red), the population needs at least ten times more plants than are grown locally. At the lower end of the scale (dark green), the land produces more vegetation that the local population needs. Gray areas are places where people in the area use less than 10 percent of the vegetation growing there. In the center of the scale (pale yellow) people use most of the vegetation.
