Some of the most polluted places on Earth
May 29, 2009 • 2:23 pm • POSTED BY stephen penning
I was fortunate enough to spend this past holiday weekend hiking in the wilderness of Maine. We were in the vicinity of the 100 Mile Wilderness which is a section of the Appalachian Trail that does not cross a paved or public road for 100 miles.
While out there you can’t help but have thoughts of living in some Utopian society where you live of the land in perfect balance with your surroundings. Which is why when I came across this collection of photos I was blown away by what the other end of that spectrum looks like. Captured here are photographs of some of the most polluted places on the planet.
For more information on pollution in Third World countries, specifically, the Philippines, which I noticed was a location many of these photos were taken in, I would suggest reading the book “Plundering Paradise: The Struggle for the Environment in the Philippines”. If anyone at the office is interested, I’ve got a copy at home you can borrow.
Seeing this reminded me of J. Henry Fair’s Photos in the “Badlands: New Horizons in Landscape” exhibit that was at MassMoCA through this past April
“Fair’s unaltered aerial photographs seem to capture beautiful abstractions of the landscape, while, in truth, their “beauty” is actually the result of man-made chemical processes that are actively polluting the landscape.”
and.. example of one —
http://cache.boston.com/bonzai-fba/Original_Photo/2008/07/04/1215177998_3561.jpg
Good article, Thanks. my name Philip.