Of the 7,000 languages spoken around the globe, 2,680 Indigenous languages—more than one third of the world's languages—are in danger of disappearing. The United Nations declared 2019 the International Year of Indigenous Languages to raise awareness about these languages and their contribution to global diversity. To help preserve them, our new Google Earth tour, Celebrating Indigenous Languages, shares audio recordings from more than 50 Indigenous language speakers.

“It is a human right to be able to speak your own language,” says Tania Haerekiterā Tapueluelu Wolfgramm, a Māori and Tongan person who works as an educator and activist in Aotearoa--the Māori name for New Zealand--and other Pacific countries. “You don’t have a culture without the language.”

Tania is one of several dozen Indigenous language speakers, advocates and educators who helped create the tour. Thanks to their contributions, people can click on locations meaningful to Indigenous speakers and hear people offer traditional greetings, sing songs, or say common words and phrases in their languages. 

The healing power of speaking one’s own language

The people who recorded audio in their languages and connected Google with Indigenous speakers each have their own story about why revitalizing Indigenous languages strikes a chord for them. 

For Arden Ogg, director of Canada’s Cree Literacy Network, and Dolores Greyeyes Sand, a Plains Cree person and Cree language teacher, the focus is on providing resources for language learners. For Brian Thom, a cultural anthropologist and professor at the University of Victoria in British Columbia, the interest grew out of his work helping Indigenous communities map their traditional lands. 

Brian asked yutustanaat, a member of the Snuneymuxw First Nation and a language teacher in British Columbia, to record the hul’q’umi’num’ language. “Our language is very healing,” says yutustanaat. “It brings out caring in our people and helps our students be strong, because the language comes from the heart.” In her recording, yutustanaat speaks the traditional hul’q’umi’num’ greeting: ‘i ch ‘o’ ‘uy’ ‘ul’ or “How are you?”

By using their languages—and sharing them with the rest of the world—Indigenous people create closer connections to a culture that is often endangered or has outright disappeared. 

Wikuki Kingi, a Māori Master Carver, recorded traditional chants in Te Reo Māori, an Eastern Polynesian language indigenous to New Zealand. He says, “Speaking Te Reo Māori connects me to my relatives, to the land, rivers, and the ocean, and it can take me to another time and place.” 

Ensuring that generations to come will hear their languages

“I do this not for myself, but for my children and grandchildren, so that in the future, they’ll hear our language,” says Dolores, who recorded audio in her native Plains Cree. 

To ensure that future generations hear and speak Indigenous languages, more needs to be done to support their revitalization. Tania Wolfgramm suggests checking out how her nonprofit organization, Global Reach Initiative & Development Pacific, uses technology to connect far-flung Indigenous people to their traditional communities—like bringing Google Street View to the remote island of Tonga. Arden Ogg directs people interested in Indigenous languages to the Cree Literacy Network, which publishes books in Cree and English to facilitate language learning. And a video from the University of Victoria suggests five ways to support Indigenous language revitalization, such as learning words and phrases using smartphone apps, and learning the names of rivers, mountains and towns in the local Indigenous language.

This initial collection of audio recordings in Google Earth only scratches the surface of the world’s thousands of Indigenous languages. If you’d like to contribute your language to this collection in the future, please share your interest.    

This week marks the 50th anniversary of the historic Apollo 11 mission that first put a man on the moon. To honor that achievement and the other countless strides in space exploration, we’re bringing you new tours, another way to explore the moon and an out-of-this-world quiz--all in Google Earth. And for those who are still dreaming about the stars, we’re sharing even more stories about the lunar mission on Search.

First up, we join NASA to learn how the Apollo 11 mission came to be. From President John F. Kennedy’s challenge to put a man on the moon to the astronaut training facilities to mission control, the countdown to launch started long before June 16, 1969.

Next, go inside a flame trench with the popular radio broadcast Science Friday. We’ll explore how NASA is upgrading existing launch sites for future missions and how they’re dealing with the threat of sea level rise for these coastal facilities. If you’re a teacher, we’re also sharing ideas for how to explore these tours with students. 

We’re also launching a new way to explore the Moon in Google Earth Studio, an animation tool for Google Earth’s satellite and 3D imagery imagery. Starting today, you’ll be able to create animations of the Moon and Mars using the tool, opening up a whole new world for video creators. Simply use the World menu from the new project page or go to your project settings page to get started.

Finally, we’re honoring 10 iconic space explorers—the men, women and robots who have advanced our understanding of the world beyond our planet through research and space travel. Once you think you’re ready to command your own mission, test your knowledge in our space quiz. We’ll even give you a hint: The French were the first to send a feline named Félicette into space. 

Visit Google Earth all week long to explore the wonders of space. 

Nothing gets past you, super sleuth! You helped Carmen Sandiego recover the stolen Crown Jewels of England and Tutankhamun’s Mask. Now we need you for a third and final assignment: Recover the Keys to the Kremlin in Google Earth.

We’ve teamed up with Carmen Sandiego and learning company Houghton Mifflin Harcourt once again to track down a new VILE operative—Paperstar, master origamist—and return this treasure to the people of Moscow.  

To get your assignment, look for the special edition Pegman icon in Google Earth for Chrome, Android and iOS. And catch us next week at ISTE 2019 in Philadelphia, where we’ll be talking with teachers about how to use these educational capers in the classroom.

Editor’s note: Today’s post is by Lorna Parry, co-founder and managing director of Underwater Earth, a nonprofit that reveals stories about the ocean through technology. In honor of World Oceans Day on June 8, Lorna talks about new underwater Street View images from around the world, and how the images reveal the ocean environment.

Under the surface of the ocean lies a magical and beautiful world that most of us never get to see. Along with the beauty, there are also sobering reminders of humanity's impact on the ocean—like bleached and dying coral and plastics that marine life consume. We hope our new underwater Street View images, available today in a Google Earth collection, will encourage people to fall in love with the ocean—both its beauty and fragility—and want to protect it.

I’ve been diving for decades and have been fortunate to see wonders like Australia’s Great Barrier Reef up close. But you don’t have to put on diving gear to experience these wonders. At Underwater Earth, we create 360-degree views of the undersea environment because we believe seeing what's happening under the ocean builds understanding and appreciation for protecting it. We don’t create these images because we want people to despair about the fate of the ocean, rather we want people to be inspired to save the beauty they see.

Our newest underwater Street View images, like the Great Barrier Reef’s Lizard Island and New Caledonia’s coral lagoons, are breathtaking. If you don’t know a lot about coral reefs, then the color and variety can seem amazing. But the fluorescing colors are signs that the coral are trying, but failing, to protect themselves from the effects of the warming ocean—what we call “nature’s most beautiful death.”

Other new imagery in the collection shows “Million Dollar Point” in the Vanuatu archipelago in the South Pacific, where Jeeps and bulldozers were dumped when the U.S. Army left the area after World War II. The images are a reminder of the vision of the ocean as a place to endlessly dispose of rubbish, with no harm done. But the eight million tons of plastic that are dumped into the ocean each year doesn’t disappear. It harms marine life, and as marine life consumes the plastics it ends up in our food.

Inspired to act

Saving the ocean is not just about saving its beauty. It’s also about saving the planet, and ourselves, from the effects of climate change. The ocean provides us with oxygen and food. It absorbs heat to stabilize global temperatures. It drives our climate and our weather. Shouldn’t we become better acquainted with the ocean and do our part to protect it?

If people are inspired to protect the ocean, there are simple steps to take. You can reduce your reliance on plastic or buy sustainably sourced fish whose harvesting minimally impacts the marine environment. Every action, no matter how small, can make a difference.

The wonderful thing about seeing underwater Street View images is that they encourage people to learn more and to ask questions. When I take the images into classrooms, kids call me the “Ocean Lady” and ask if I’ve ever seen sharks. (The answer is yes: tiger sharks, whale sharks, grey reef sharks, black tip reef sharks, hammerheads—all of them are sleek, powerful and commanding creatures.) I hope these school kids will one day learn to dive, like my 9-year-old daughter. Then they can see the ocean’s magic and all of these sharks for themselves.

In the meantime, we have underwater Street View images to inspire awe about the ocean. You’ll find these images, and all underwater Street View images to date, in this Google Earth collection. They’re part of a new Street View category that’s available in Voyager on Earth for Web, Android, and iOS. Take some time to explore images like the Julian Rocks Nguthungulli Nature Reserve. One look at the Eastern Striper fish and spotted wobbegong sharks, and you can’t help falling in love with the ocean and wanting to save it.

This March, we put out the call for super sleuths to help us track down Carmen Sandiego in Google Earth. And we were blown away by the enthusiasm and speed with which people found the reformed VILE operative—who is now an ACME agent—by traveling from city to city around the globe.

You not only solved the caper, but also shared stories and memories of playing the original games, watching the shows (both old and new) and sharing the experience with friends, family and kids.

Today, we’ve teamed up with Carmen Sandiego once again—this time to help her recover Tutankhamun’s Mask. Le Chevre, a master climber and classmate of Carmen Sandiego at VILE Academy, has stolen the priceless artifact. We’re counting on gumshoes everywhere to help Carmen find him and recover the loot.

To get your assignment, look for the special edition Pegman icon in Google Earth for Chrome, Android and iOS. Good luck, detectives!

Each spring, the National Park Service and the National Park Foundation dedicate a week to celebrating the protected spaces in our communities. Today, we’re bringing the national parks to you in a Google Earth guided tour through 31 different parks around the country.

From the breathtaking vistas of the Shenandoah Valley to the awe-inspiring hoodoos of Bryce Canyon, the National Parks allow us to truly experience the natural wonders of our country. Start with the pink granite formations of Otter Cliff in Maine’s Acadia National Park, then head west to explore the ancient Pueblo dwellings of Mesa Verde National Park in Colorado. Finally, complete your journey with a peek through the North Window arch in Utah’s Arches National Park.

Once you’ve virtually explored the national parks in Google Earth, we encourage you to put down your phone, put on some sunscreen and get outside to explore the wonders that our parks system has to offer. Start by finding the park closest to you.