MNN - Mother Nature Network

In the pristine zero-gravity wilderness of outer space, our Earth shines like a beacon. Reflecting sunlight off silvery white clouds, opal blue oceans, and forest-tinged brown of continents, it’s hard to imagine from space that humanity is making any kind of imprint on our world. But we are not only making an imprint – we are stamping our metal feet into the earth and spewing carbon by the ton into the atmosphere. And the future is now. Haze has settled over cities. Once green, fertile areas have become desert. Metal encroachments creep into the soil. All the while, NASA has photographed it all from space. Here are seven jarring images of human impact on the Earth, as seen from space.