Often, we remain isolated from the impacts on the environment that our actions cause. These photos published by the Foundation for Deep Ecology, in collaboration with Population Media Center, demonstrate starkly, the negative effect that human activities are having on the Earth.
1. The Midway Islands are located deep inside the Pacific Ocean. Located in the middle of nowhere, they are almost 5,000 kms from human civilization. Yet, their wildlife has to bear the burden of human activities, as the picture of this dead albatross shows, whose stomach is filled with plastic items.
2. Unchecked urbanization brings destruction of natural habitats to every corner of the Earth. This picture shows sprawling Mexico City, Mexico, with a population of 20 million, and density of 63,700/square kilometre. No signs of the original biosystems are visible.
3. This is an aerial view of New Delhi with a population of 22 million, density 30,00 per square mile (77,700/km2). With its huge population, and burgeoning traffic, Delhi tops the charts in terms of air pollution.
4. The trash created by our consumption mostly remains hidden from our eyes. This picture shows a landscape of trash in Bangladesh.
5. When we throw ‘away’ something, it really doesn’t go away, but lands up in some corner of the Earth. This is a graveyard for old tires located in the desert of Nevada, USA.
6. Massive quantities of waste from obsolete computers and other electronics are typically shipped to the developing world for sorting and/or disposal. Photo from Accra, Ghana.
7. The Mir Mine in Russia is the world’s largest diamond mine. This huge wound drilled into the Earth, is a testimony to human greed.
8. Cattle graze amongst burning Amazon jungle in Brazil. These priceless Amazon forests, often called the lungs of the Earth, are being cut down to satisfy the demand for beef in North America.
9. Sometimes called the Brazil of the North, Canada has not been kind to its native forests. Image of clear-cut logging on Vancouver Island.
10. Aerial view of an oil fire following the 2010 deep water Horizon oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico.
11. A shepherd by the Yellow River cannot stand the smell, so he covers his mouth. Inner Mongolia, China.
12. Aerial view of the tar sands region, where mining operations and tailings ponds are so vast they can be seen from outer space. Alberta, Canada.
13. In both the Arctic and Antarctic regions, ice is retreating. Melting water on icecap, North East Land, Svalbard, Norway.
14. The western fjords on Svalbard, Norway,that normally freeze in winter, remained ice-free all season. This bear headed north, looking for suitable sea ice to hunt on. Finding none, it eventually collapsed and died.
