A dizzying ‘advertisement for Earth’ shows the beauty and scars of our planet

Described by its American director Conner Griffith as an ‘advertisement for planet Earth’, Ripple consists of a torrent of images contrasting the planet’s natural and developed surfaces. Assembled largely using Google Earth and Wikipedia, Ripple uses overhead shots of cities, port terminals, farmland and even microchips to offer a startling perspective on the profound marks we have left on this planet. The video’s imagery allows us to see the world and its myriad details in fresh ways, suggesting a poetics of technology that can admire human achievement without blindly embracing it.