With so much going on aro­und in technology, media and our social life, we have almost forgotten about the earth we are living on, which makes us slaves to our personal lives and careless about everything else.

But kids, do you know that with every passing moment our carelessness is costing the lives of many species of animals and plants, and ultimately making them disappear from the face of the earth? And to remind ourselves about what we are losing with time, there is this insightful website What is Missing?, which gives awareness about the present sixth mass extinction of species as a wakeup call to protect and restore nature with our actions.

Designed by Maya Lin (US designer and artist) What is missing? opens the eyes to the natural phenomena which are disappearing like clean air and water, the scale of species, the longevity of species, the oxygen in the water, etc.

This is quite an amazing site in terms of it graphics, visuals and readability. Though the homepage is dark, it still makes an amazing layout with a world map and small colourful spirals pointing the various regions and countries across the map. The main menu is at the bottom, with Timeline, Species, Extinct, Habitat, Anthro, Pollution, video, stories, disasters, etc.

You can either select one category from the bottom or click the spirals and dots to see what had been done, is happening or missing out from that particular region.

It will then be highlighted on the homepage while the map goes lighter in the background. You can advance filter by sorting from the colour key, which is perhaps the most useful feature on the site. Colours basically refer to separate entity in a category, such as orange for reptiles and amphibians, yellow insects, blue marine mammals, turquoise fresh water species, light blue to birds, etc.

The text that appears on the screens is reader friendly, with short to the point information.

Apart from that, the website also has the feature to share a memory about something readers have personally witnessed diminish or disappear from the natural world.

Overall, the website encourages individuals to do their part in making a difference. To gain awareness about the current crisis, visit whatismissing.net

Published in Dawn, Young World March 11th, 2017