Even environmental news and commentary site Grist understands the power of comics.

Grist co-founder Lisa Hymas teamed up with illustrator Thomas Pitilli and design studio Warp Graphics to tackle the issue of over-population in a 6-page web-comic titled 7 Billion, Unpacked, which was posted yesterday to the non-profit organization’s website.

As Lisa explains in the intro, the world’s population is estimated to reach 7 billion people at the end of this month, according to the United Nations Population Fund. The comic is part 1 of Grist’s series of articles on the topic. It presents the impact and issues surrounding this milestone with clarity and accessibility in a digestible package. There’s even an extensive footnotes section for all you fact-checkers.

Grist has featured comics before (such as this excellent 8-page comic by Stuart McMillen about the ill-fated reindeer of St. Matthew Island) but to my knowledge this is the first time they’ve commissioned an original comic of their own.

(Hat tip to Dirk Van Fleet)