03:47 Clever satire graphically detailing how to use bleach to wipe out every species on the Earth and scrub oceans, forests, and plains of all life.

The Gulf oil spill has given some of the most talented information graphics designers a powerful platform.  Here are three of the most masterful ones; there are links to the full sets of charts in each article.

Everything We Know About the BP Oil Spill.  Seriously , Everything. The designer created almost 20 separate sets of graphs covering the environmental impact, the impact on the fishing industry, the mess of fixes BP is trying out, the financial costs, and the impact on the tourism industry.

The Ongoing  Disaster of the Spill. This simpler infographic focuses on the costs of the spill, and ties the giant problem together.  The ugly takeaway?  A $500,000 safety valve–which BP actively resisted buying–could have prevented this.  And now the costs of the spill are estimated to be around $23 billion.  And that’s if everything continues as is, and the spill is actually capped in two months’ time.

Guide to the Oil Spill’s Impacts. This series of infographics deliver a stunningly rich chart of all the natural resources and businesses threatened by the disaster.  It details both the top-level impacts of the spill and the local ecosystems under threat.

02:27 A clever animated history of our insatiable lust for oil wherever we can find it, and a glimpse of a possible future sucking the planet dry.