XKCD's massive, vertical climate change infographic

Randall Munroe once again shows that he's one of the web's most talented storytellers, inventing ways of conveying information that use the web's affordances to novel and sharp effect (there's a reason he won a Hugo award).


This time, he's tackling climate change, with a long, vertically scrolling timeline of planetary temperature from 20,000 BCE to various projects in 2100. What starts as a leisurely tour through history literally veers into alarming territory in the last few pixels. It's the contrast that makes this work so well.

Earth Temperature Timeline
[Randall Munroe/XKCD]