Google Doodle marks Earth Day with climate crisis images

Glacier retreat in Greenland. Images taken each December annually from 2000 to 2020Image source, Google Earth
Image caption,

Google doodle image showing glacier retreat in Greenland - images taken each December annually from 2000 to 2020

Earth Day takes place every year on 22 April, and it's an opportunity for people across the globe to raise awareness about protecting our planet.

This year, Google is marking the event with a doodle showing time-lapse satellite images showing the impact of climate change.

Doodles are specially-created versions of the Google logo to celebrate events, anniversaries and the lives of famous people.

Today's Earth Day doodles show melting glaciers, coral bleaching and deforestation in four locations on our planet.

Image source, Google Earth
Image caption,

Glacier retreat at the top of Mount Kilimanjaro in Africa - images taken each December annually from 1986 to 2020

"Acting now and together to live more sustainably is necessary to avoid the worst effects of climate change," said Google in a statement.

It added that today's climate change scenes will stay on the homepage for several hours at a time.

Keep reading to see some of the best Google Doodles from over the years

First doodle

Image source, Google

The first Google Doodle was used on 30 August 1998 - a few days before the company was even officially launched.

It features a design - a stick man - inspired by the Burning Man arts festival, which takes place every year in a desert in the US state of Nevada,

Google says founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin put the image up on the homepage as a way of telling people that they were off work and heading to the festival.

While the first doodle was pretty simple, the idea of decorating the company logo to celebrate big events was born.

UK child wins 'Doodle 4 Google' contest

Image source, Google

This logo from 17 November 2005 was created by 11-year-old Lisa Wainaina from the UK.

She was the first winner of the 'Doodle 4 Google' contest, which is now held every year in certain countries.

It gives children a chance to not only have their logo on the Google homepage but also win scholarships and tech packages for their schools.

Doodle celebrates Royal Wedding

Image source, Google

The royal wedding of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge in 2011 was a massive event, watched by millions of people around the world.

Google decided to celebrate the big occasion with a special doodle.

It said "we usually replace a letter or two, but in this case, the entire logo was replaced with scenery, hidden in the form of buildings, bridges and fairy tale-esque castles, not to mention that huge crowd!"

A special doodle was also created for the royal wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle in 2018.

Marking International Women's Day

Image source, Google
Image caption,

This doodle was used on 8 March 2013

Google has been celebrating International Women's Day since 2005.

Creating doodles in the US and internationally is the responsibility of a team of artists, known as doodlers, and engineers,

On designing the image above, doodler Betsy Bauer said she wanted to show women in all shapes and sizes!

Helping to spread awareness during Covid pandemic

Image source, Google

This doodle has been sued many times over the last year during the coronavirus pandemic.

Google posted the following message alongside it whenever it was used: "Get vaccinated. Wear a mask. Save lives."

The company said it wanted to raise awareness "as COVID-19 continues to impact communities around the world" and help people "stop the spread by finding a local vaccine site".

It was one of over 5,000 doodles (and counting) created for Google homepages around the world.