It is amazing how much the humanity can change the face of the earth. Not only can it create huge craters, which look a lot like craters from meteors, they leave a big enough impact that it can be seen from space. Though this crater, caused by a massive explosion on 1 July 1916, looks large, being 90 feet deep and 300 feet across; it is nowhere big enough to be viewed for space. A common misconception is that the Great Wall of China can be seen from space. In reality, however, it is impossible. Not only is it of the same color as the earth near it, it is also not that wide. Deforestation, on the other hand, can be clearly seen from space. Also, at night, all the lights that the large cities produce are also very visible.

While communism, collectivism, worms, dry rot and casual looting failed to destroy the majestic wooden churches of Russia, it may be ordinary neglect that finally does them in. Dwindled now to several hundred remaining examples, these glories of vernacular architecture lie scattered amid the vastness of the world’s largest country. Just over a decade ago, Richard Davies, a British architectural photographer, struck out on a mission to record the fragile and poetic structures. Austerely beautiful and haunting, “Wooden Churches: Traveling in the Russian North” (White Sea Publishing; $132) is the result. Covering thousands of miles, Mr. Davies described how he and the writer Matilda Moreton tracked down the survivors from among the thousands of onion-domed structures built after Prince Vladimir converted to Christianity in 988.

“I have been photographing this group of urban foxes in Bristol for over 12 months; what started off as a chance encounter has become an obsession for me and has changed my feelings and attitudes towards urban foxes forever...”. – Ian Wade. (Photo by Ian Wade)

People walk past the 23-foot “Unitled (LAMP/BEAR)” outdoor sculpture of a teddy bear by artist Urs Fischer April 8, 2011 in New York City. The 35,000 pound sculpture of a yellow teddy bear with a working lamp will be on display for five months in front of the Seagram Building in Manhattan. The sculpture is expected to sell for more than $10 million at Christie’s Post-War & Contemporary Evening Sale on May 11. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)

Army paratroopers carry the casket of Private Howard at the Wellington Cathedral on December 21, 2010 in Wellington, New Zealand. Private Howard was serving with the British army when was killed by friendly fire from a US Air Force plane in Helmand Province, Afghanistan earlier this month. Private Howard is the fifth NZ-born soldier to be killed in action in Afghanistan. (Photo by Marty Melville/Getty Images)

A Bolivian Squirrel monkey plays with a toy football at London Zoo on August 18, 2011 in London, England. Male monkey Bounty has fathered eleven baby monkeys in the last three years since his arrival, enough to make up a football team. His latest offspring named Rolo was the eleventh and arrived last month. (Photo by Dan Kitwood/Getty Images)

A worker stands under covered elephant statues at the Ambedkar Park on January 11, 2012 in Noida, Uttar Pradesh, India. India's Election Commission has ordered the covering up of statues, the symbol of the Bahujan Samaj Party, ahead of next month's elections in the state of Uttar Pradesh. (Photo by Daniel Berehulak /Getty Images)