Warning! Serious and sad images ahead!
There should be no “debate” on global warming. The science proves it. Do people really think that all the chemicals, waste, and runoff factories expel every day isn’t going to have a deep and devastating impact on our environment? Yes, and there are still people out there who don’t know the difference between weather and climate. There are people who don’t care about our environment, whether it’s global warming, overfishing, or deforestation.
Even aside from climate change, there are other social factors that are wreaking havoc on our planet. While it’s easy to enjoy our comfortable lifestyles, complete with air conditioning, smartphones, and unlimited buffets, many humans don’t have those luxuries. And these people are easy to ignore unless you see them living in squalor. Planet earth and its inhabitants, animals, waters, and plants are being ravaged and ignored. See the proof.
Credit: Christopher Furlong/Getty Images
Is there hope for us?
Is there hope for us? Check out these heartbreaking photos that show how hard we have used and abused Earth.
29. Polar Icecaps
It’s been proven again and again that temperatures are rising across the planet. one of the problems with this is that the icecaps are melting. Not only is this bad news for the animals that inhabit polar regions, but it will cause ocean levels to rise, which can destroy islands and coasts.
28. No Games
A big concern about the 2016 Summer Olympics being in Rio de Janiero, Brazil was the pollution. Here are hundreds, if not thousands of delicious dead fish in Rodrigo de Freitas lagoon in Rio.
27. Concentration
India’s population is almost 1.3 billion people (and growing), which makes it the most populated country in the world after China. This aerial photo of New Delhi shows how congested and polluted the city is due to overcrowding.
26. Leather Goods
In Bangladesh, little children play next to a severely polluted canals. While some parents here worry about giving their kids non-organic foods, imagine living in the one of the most polluted cities on earth. Every day local tanneries dump over 20,000 cubic liters of toxic waste into the capital Dhaka’s main river and key water supply, the Bugiganga.
25. Breath It In
No, this isn’t a romantic fog settling into Changsha, in the Hunan Province of China. It’s awful smog due to pollution. We all know that China has a population problem, causing them to make a one-child per couple law, but they continue to produce copious amounts of pollution. China has many of the most polluted cities in the world. In Beijing, coal and cars are the two main sources of air pollution.
24. Built to Spill
While this is a photo of an oil spill off the coast of Thailand, they happen all over the world. And one of the saddest things is that most of them don’t get media coverage because they happen so often. Oil spills affect marine life and other animals, as well as beaches.
23. A Whole Lotta Rubbish
Manila has a river of garbage. It is estimated that discarded plastic will outweigh fish in the oceans by 2050. Maybe we should think twice before using plastic bags at the grocery store. Do you ever wonder what happens to all that garbage you throw away on a daily basis?
22. Above the Sea
This looks beautiful, like clouds or sea foam but it’s deadly toxic runoff in New Delhi. This is The Yamuna river, holy to Hindus and accounts for 70% of the the city’s water supply. Delicious.
21. Slick
This bird is covered in oil from a spill in Louisiana this year. Most of my friends and coworkers in New Orleans didn’t even know about it.
20. Into the Woods
Save the trees. Why? Greenpeace says there is an significant increase in greenhouse gas emissions. This kills off animals like sumatran tigers causing them to be severely endangered. Local communities also suffer for people’s need of paper and palm oil. Greenpeace says, “[Indonesia] is home to between 10 and 15 percent of the world’s known plants, mammals, and birds.”
19. Mexico
Here is Mexico City covered in smog. The city is overcrowded and also considered one of the most polluted cities in the world. In 1992, the United Nations named it THE most polluted city in the world.
18. Stings
If you keep up with the news at all, you’ve heard about the bee problem over the past few years. Such little creatures have a BIG impact on our environment. The problem is that bees help fertilize 1/3 of our planet’s food. No bees means people starving.
17. Pristine?
Brave climbers often attempt to ascend the great Mount Everest. Unfortunately many of them leave behind their garbage on the natural wonder. This sherpa is helping clean up his beloved Everest. There are little things all of us can do to help our planet and properly disposing of our waste and this is one.
16. Trashy
Even in more developed nations, garbage dumping is an issue. Most of the UK’s beach debris is from beachgoers. Way to ruin it for the rest of us.
15. Float Away
This little raft is made from styrofoam. This father and son in the Philippines are paddling through a river of trash to collect plastic bottles to sell. They make $3US a day.
14. Does Not Compute
E-Waste is also a concern that is growing as technology is advancing and expanding. Smartphones, computers and the like are trashed and can contain potentially harmful components that can seep into groundwater
13. Chernobyl
In 1986 in the city of Pripyat, in the former USSR, there was a horrific and catastrophic nuclear accident. There is still residual radioactivity in the surrounding environment and even in other countries. The deaths caused by the Chernobyl disaster is debated. While most of the victims developed or will develop cancer from the radiation. Nuclear power is a cheap and efficient source of electricity compared to fossil fuels. Some say that nuclear energy is less environmentally harmful, but Chernobyl proves otherwise.
12. Atomic Bomb
Everyone learns about the Japanese bombings in Hiroshima and Nagasaki during World War II. The total people killed directly is in the hundreds of thousands. The residual effects harmed even more people who died from the effect of burns, radiation sickness, and more.
11. Tired
Thankfully we no longer burn used tires. But this eyesore is a dump along the Spanish countryside. Since 2003, they have be claimed illegal. Worn tires and now be recycled for building materials, surfacing for roads, sports tracks and children’s playgrounds.
10. Greasy
The Athabasca Oil Sands in Alberta, Canada can be seen from space. Of course, this and other oil sands have a negative impact on the environment and well as human welfare. Thankfully many environmentally conscious people are becoming less dependent on crude oils and choose to buy electric cars and invest in solar power.
9. Migration
Migrating birds who go South for the winter are getting confused because of climate change. They are either starting their journey too early or too late. This means they can’t feast at the appropriate time, leading to the diminishing of several species.
8. Dead and Gone
Let’s not forget the amazing animals that once roamed the Earth before we got involved due to hunting or destroying their habitats. No more West African black rhinos, Javan tigers and hundreds more.
7. Mir Mine
Over in East Siberia sits this former diamond mine. It’s over 1500 feet deep and has a diameter of almost 4,000 feet: it is the second largest excavated hole in the world. Our greed for diamonds made us put a huge gaping hole in the earth that hasn’t been used for over ten years. The airspace over Mir is off limits for flying because there have been reports of helicopters being sucked in by the airflow.
6. Death by Fire
Here’s another example of deforestation in the Amazon. Controlled fires destroy the flora and fauna living in these forest to make way for cattle. Another reason to guilt you into eating well-source meats.
5. Greenhouse Gases
The Earth has a natural “greenhouse” that keeps us insulated. If it didn’t exist we would be frozen. But the use of fossil fuels adds additional gases to our greenhouse, which insulates our atmosphere, leading to rising temperatures across the world.
4. Meat Production
Us Americans love our steaks and burgers. The average American consumes 171 pounds of cow a year. The increase in population creates more of a demand for cattle, thus increasing the amounts of farmed bovines. Raising, slaughtering, and shipping of these cows use a lot of fossil energy, water and land. It also contributes to greenhouse gas emissions and sometimes the decline of rainforests.
3. Flooding
Tuvalu is a Polynesian island located in the Pacific Ocean between Hawaii and Australia. Due to global warming, they have constant floods on their coastal towns that brings in garbage and destroys homes.
2. See, food?
Overfishing to feed the increasing global population is serious threat. Future generations won’t be able to enjoy the wild fish we enjoy and will have to consume less tasty farmed fish. It is said we will run out of seafood around 2050. That’s closer than you think.
1. Hate
Hatred for others has killed billions of people through the course of history. How many killings, wars, terrorist attacks, and shootings have there been? That’s not even including greed, rape, and apathy. Aside from our environmental impacts, what’s sadder than the negative impacts we have on our fellow humans?
What do you think? Can we help curb global warming or do you think it’s not even an issue? Please share your thoughts in the comments and SHARE this article.