The end of each decade affords us a chance to look at our world from the proverbial 30,000-foot view and see how we've changed.

With the help of Maxar, a provider of advanced, space-based technology solutions, Google and NASA, we've taken many more steps back – more than 300 miles above Earth to be exact.

That perspective reveals some engineering marvels stoked by commerce and others driven by international power struggles. The views help us see how our technological advances could put us at risk in the decades to come.

Eyeing Apple

As Apple stormed toward becoming one of the most valuable companies on the planet, its campus in Cupertino, California, took the shape of a dial on the original iPods – the product that marked Apple's reemergence as tech leader at the turn of the century.

A cautionary note for Apple Park: Glitzy corporate digs don't always pan out

Skyscrapers in the sand

Apple's 175-acre, space-age architectural marvel stands out as a monument to tech. The same might be said for tourism, trade and energy about the ostentatious structures and engineering feats that emerged from the sands of Dubai in the United Arab Emirates.

Thirteen of the largest buildings in the world were completed in Dubai – the most in any city – during the past decade, according to the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat. Seventy-seven of the 100 largest buildings worldwide have been built since 2010, including 40 in Chinese cities.

The world’s tallest buildings: Why they aren’t being built in the USA anymore

China's influence grows

You need look no farther than the Spratly Islands in the South China Sea to see signs of China's growing influence in the region and the world. There it has reshaped Fiery Cross Reef into a landing strip and port.

China added a maritime rescue center on the man-made island this year, but that hasn't alleviated concerns that the port might allow China to exert greater control in the resource-rich South China Sea.

Man-made climate?

As the structures and global economy grew during the decade, so did the levels of greenhouse gases in our atmosphere and the intensity of our climate events. Each year has brought new highs in carbon dioxide – the greenhouse gas most responsible for global warming.

Hurricane Harvey caused massive destruction in Houston in 2017. NASA/SUOMI NPP VIIRS

Three hurricanes in 2017 are among the five costliest weather and climate disasters in U.S. history. Hurricane Harvey dropped record-breaking amounts of rain – more than 40 inches in areas around Houston – aided by unusually warm water in the Gulf of Mexico.

"We show, for the first time, that the volume of rain over land corresponds to the amount of water evaporated from the unusually warm ocean," said Kevin Trenberth of the National Center for Atmospheric Research. Seawater in the Gulf was nearly 86 degrees, which helped boost Harvey's intense rainfall.

Simonton, Texas, on Aug. 30, 2017

Harvey took 89 lives and caused $130 billion in damage, according to NOAA. Less than two weeks later, Hurricane Irma devastated the U.S. Virgin Islands – St. John and St. Thomas – as a Category 5 storm before making landfall at Cudjoe Key, Florida, as a Category 4 storm. The storm killed 97 people and cost $52 billion.

Anse Marcel, St. Martin, on Sept. 11, 2017

The biggest loss of human life came 10 days later when Hurricane Maria made landfall in southeast Puerto Rico. The storm left 2,981 dead – a toll that took months to determine – and cost $93.6 billion.

Puerto Rico on Sept. 24, 2017

More intense fires

The Camp Fire in 2018 was the deadliest and most destructive fire in California history, burning nearly 14,000 homes and killing 85 people. PG&E, whose equipment ignited the fire, said recently that it's looking into technology-based solutions to the pressing problem of wildfires, which have become increasingly destructive for a number of reasons, including climate change, a major contributor to vegetation drying and becoming more combustible.

The West's next deadly wildfires: The risks are everywhere

Melting glaciers

A study this year suggests our planet's glaciers continue to melt away, losing up to 390 billion tons of ice and snow each year. The largest losses were glaciers in Alaska, followed by melting ice fields in South America and glaciers in the Arctic. A New York Times report this year focused on the Tuyuksu glacier in Kazakhstan. The glacier is melting rapidly and within a couple of decades could be lost as a source of drinking water for 2 million people.

Concerns with nuclear power

Though nuclear power plants don't fuel climate change the way carbon-based fuels do, Japan's Fukushima disaster in 2011 was a potent reminder of the dangers of relying on nuclear reactors for power. The devastating earthquake, tsunami and nuclear accident at Fukushima killed one worker and cost nearly $120 billion. The tsunami swamped reactors 1 through 4 and crippled the nuclear plant.

Hope for the future?

Maybe one sign that Americans are taking climate change more seriously is near Reno, Nevada, at Tesla's ever-expanding electric car facility. When the facility is completed, it will cover more than 10 million square feet.

If not, maybe Elon Musk's other venture SpaceX or Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin will chart our next course.