Earth Day Google Doodle

On April 20^th 2013, Google celebrated Earth day in a big way, with one of its most detailed doodles to date. There was a lot to experience; so much so that the friendly search engine provided viewers with a checklist to ensure that users didn’t miss anything on the Earth Day Google Doodle. Included within the diverse and expansive doodle were: all four seasons, animals, and controllable weather to name a few of the natural wonders included.

“Today we are celebrating Earth Day with an interactive Google doodle that captures a slice of nature’s subtle wonders.”, wrote Doodler Leon Hong, in a blog explaining the day’s Doodle. “We hope you enjoy discovering animals, controlling the weather and observing the seasons. Use the sightseeing checklist below to ensure you don’t miss anything.”

Earth Day Google Doodle: The Elements

True to form, elements of the doodle formed the Google trademark. Yellow dandelions were shaped like a “G”, beside which two caves formed the double “O”. The second lake lead into the second “G”, which in turn transformed into a stream shaped like an “E”, which froze during the winter season of the doodle. The “L” was represented in the form of a tree which started as a sapling and grew each time a full year transpired.

When user’s pressed the play feature, which was incorporated into the sun, of the interactive doodle, users observed the sun setting and day becoming night. The complex Earth Day Google Doodle featured four moon variations: full, half, crescent and gibbous.

Following each night, the sun rose, and a new season was beheld; starting with spring and cycling though summer, autumn and winter before returning back to spring. Users could click on the clouds to make it rain during the spring, summer and autumn season of the doodle. However when users clicked on the clouds during the winter season it causes snow to fall. When the snow began, it kept falling until everything was covered in a winter wonderland. When spring arrived all the snow began to melt except from on the caps of the mountains.

When user’s placed their cursor over the interactive logo, this caused the “wind” to blow. However this was only noticeable when the cursor was over the large “G” formed by dandelions, which were temporarily blown away.

No depiction of nature would be complete without a collection of woodland critters; the doodle featured an abundance of animals. Users could observe ants swarming around three holes under the dandelions, if users clicked on the neighbouring hole a badger would appear. Birds appeared sporadically in the sky, and a bear emerged from each of the caves when clicked on. Fish swan around in the lake; also at night users witnessed green fireflies. Users are still able to view and play with the interactive doodle at the following URL: http://www.google.com/doodles/earth-day-2013.

This is not the first time Google has created a celebratory doodle for Earth day; the search engine began the practice in 2001, and has continued to improve the doodles to mark the day over the subsequent twelve years. Earth day began in 1970, and continues to be celebrated in over 190 countries globally. The day is celebrated in the hope of raising international awareness about environmental issues. For the 2013 Earth Day the focus was on global warming.

True to form, Google doesn’t just talk the talk it also walks it.

The search engine regularly invests in green initiatives, including wind and solar power options, which it demonstrated earlier in 2013 in Texas.