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119 Heartbreaking Photos Of Pollution That Will Inspire You To Recycle
20 million Americans mobilized on April 22, 1970; 30 years later, that number was up to 200 million citizens of the Earth. What was the cause that brought these people together? The desire to make the Earth a better place.
Earth Day is not a holiday, but an annual event dedicated to demonstrating support for environmental action. Consider the math: in many Western countries, each person generates 4.3lb (1.95kg) of waste every day, up from 2.7 (1.2kg) in 1960. There are now 7.3 billion people in the world; with the current population growth rate of 1.1%, this means that in roughly 64 years, the Earth's population will be almost 15 billion.
That's a lot of garbage. Let's do our part, avoid the mistakes of the past, and keep our planet clean! If you have an image of pollution in our neighborhood, add a photo to this list - and then help clean it up!
This post may include affiliate links.
#1
Tortoise Trapped By Plastic
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#2
Turtle Trapped In Plastic Waste Couldn't Grow
#4
Bird In Oil Spill
#5
Albatross Killed By Excessive Plastic Ingestion In Midway Islands (North Pacific)
#6
Stork Trapped In Plastic
#7
Suffering Seal Not Safe In Its Own Habitat
Final score:
100points
#8
Oiled Penguins
#9
Surfing On A Wave Full Of Trash In Java (Indonesia), The World’s Most Populated Island
#10
He Spends Each Morning Looking For Recyclable Plastic That He Can Sell For 35 Cents Per Kilo To Help His Family
MonikaMorgan 9 years ago
What a s**t way to make a living, but in a small way he is helping to clean up some of the pollution.
#11
Fake Hong Kong Skyline For Tourists
#12
Seal's Nose Trapped In Plastic Waste
#13
Bird In Oil Spill
#14
Boy Swimming In Polluted Water In India
#15
Child Drinks Water From Stream In Fuyuan County, Yunnan Province
GraceHunter 9 years ago
So sad to see this. We are all lucky we can drink clean water every day.
#16
Girl Walks Through Smog In Beijing, Where Small-Particle Pollution Is 40 Times Over International Safety Standard
#17
Worker Cleans Away Dead Fish At A Lake In Wuhan, Central China's Hubei Province
ΛctuallyFinest 7 years ago
The fish could of had a future but all they got was the filthy death we gave them.
#18
Ken River Oil Field, California (USA) – Exploited Since 1899
#19
Mexico City Landscape, 20 Million Inhabitants
#20
Child Swims In A Polluted Reservoir, Pingba
#21
Landscape Full Of Trash In Bangladesh
wolvesrcool 9 years ago
wait till the day the whole earth is like this , just because of stupidity
#22
Man Cleans Up Oil Spill In Dalian Port, Liaoning
#23
Great Wall Of China, Shame
JeanneDeaux 9 years ago
Shame on tourists! It's not because you are not home that you can do whatever you want!
#24
A Bald Sunbear In Borneo Where Major Deforestation Is Threatening Their Habitat And Health
Final score:
29points
#25
Residents Look At A Heavily Polluted River, Zhugao, Sichuan Province
#26
A Mute Swan Builds A Nest Using Plastic Garbage
#27
Landfill In Accra (Ghana). Our Electronic Rubbish Usually Ends Up In Third-world Countries
#28
Boy Swims In Algae-filled Water, Qingdao, Shandong
#29
Man Walks By Pipe Discharging Waste Water Into Yangtze River
#31
Journalist Takes A Sample Of Polluted Red Water From Jianhe River
#32
Crab Lives In Old Bottle
#33
Plastic Bag Floats In The Sea Off The Philippines. Ocean Plastic Has Turned Up Literally Everywhere - In The Deep Sea And Buried In Arctic Ice
#34
Young Raccoon With Fishing Lure Caught In Lip.
Final score:
21points
#35
Over 3000 Dead Pigs Fished Out Of Huangpu River
ShaudaySmith 9 years ago
not sure if this is from pollution.. maybe some sort of disaster. a damn shame nonetheless.
#36
A Family Walks On A Garbage-strewn Beach In Mumbai
#37
Boy In Polluted Water
#39
Boy Tries To Avoid Scattered Rubbish Floating On A Flooded Street In Shantou, Guangdong Province
#40
California Drought
#41
Fishermen Row A Boat In The Algae-filled Chaohu Lake In Hefei, Anhui Province
#42
Workers Try To Drain Sewage Water From Leaking Sewage Tank, Shanghang, Fujian
MirekPraha 9 years ago
they are cleaning some industry equipment, so what is the problem? No pollution outside. you are trying to manipulate our minds.
#43
Buildings In Beijing Surrounded By Smog
#44
Dry 'river' In Northern Bali - When The Rains Come The Plastic Washes Out To Sea.
Final score:
14points
#45
Indonesian Forest Transformed Into Palm Plantation
BekkaWilson 9 years ago
This is so sad to see, and is the reason younger generations will probably only see orangutans in zoological museums
#46
Workers Clean Up Floating Garbage On The Yangtze River
#47
Terrible Pollution In India's Rivers
#48
Brazil Drought
#50
Plastic Sandals Found On Beaches In Raja Ampat
Final score:
9points
#51
Part Of The Amazonian Jungle In Brazil, Burnt Down To Be “Repurposed”
#52
An Elderly Man Uses A Broom To Sweep Away A Burst Of Algal Bloom From The Surface Of A Pond In Order To Bathe In Jiaxing
GabrielėPetrauskaitė 9 years ago
yeah, and he's washing out the shampoo or something like that out of his head. Way to go.
#53
Cat And Trash At A Beautiful Beach In The Westsahara, Morocco
Final score:
8points
#56
Blizzard Of Nor'easters No Surprise Thanks To Climate Change
#57
Madhya Pradesh,in.:cows Awaiting Death,poisoned By Plasic,eaten With Food In The Garbage.
Final score:
6points
#59
Plastic Kochin, India
Final score:
5points
MarjoLampinenQvist 9 years ago
Terrible! I was there with my family 2008 and it didn´t look like this then....
#60
Open Dumping In The Streets Of New Delhi, India
Final score:
5points
#61
Taken At A Tourist Spot In India - 2011
Final score:
4points
LauraPiper 9 years ago
I suppose it only takes one t****r to throw a bottle down there and the rest will follow!!
#63
Derilect Building In Johannesburg
Final score:
3points
#64
The Ship-breakers Of Bangladesh
Final score:
3points
MirekPraha 9 years ago
Ship-breakers area good example of recycling business. This photo is not about pollution at all.
#65
Landfill Perimeter 2 Days After Being Cleaned
Final score:
3points
#66
The Tunisian Chemical Group Ecocide In Gabes (tunisia)
Final score:
3points
#67
The Tunisian Chemical Group Ecocide In Gabes (tunisia)
Final score:
3points
#68
The Tunisian Chemical Group Ecocide In Gabes (tunisia)
Final score:
2points
#69
The Tunisian Chemical Group Ecocide In Gabes (tunisia)
Final score:
2points
#70
The Tunisian Chemical Group Ecocide In Gabes (tunisia)
Final score:
2points
#71
Shall We Take A Swim In Plastic Soup, We Don't Have To Go Far...
Final score:
1point
PolythenePam 9 years ago
why I boycott the filthy stuff - If you want to cut your plastic footprint check out plastic free alternatives www.plasticisrubbish.com
#73
The Tunisian Chemical Group Ecocide In Gabes (tunisia)
Final score:
1point
#74
Pelican Unable To Fly Due To A Plastic Wire Around Its Legs
Final score:
0points
#75
The Tunisian Chemical Group Ecocide In Gabes (tunisia)
Final score:
0points
#76
The Tunisian Chemical Group Ecocide In Gabes (tunisia)
Final score:
0points
#77
The Tunisian Chemical Group Ecocide In Gabes (tunisia)
Final score:
0points
#78
The Tunisian Chemical Group Ecocide In Gabes (tunisia)
Final score:
0points
#79
The Tunisian Chemical Group Ecocide In Gabes (tunisia)
Final score:
0points
#80
The Tunisian Chemical Group Ecocide In Gabes (tunisia)
Final score:
0points
#81
The Tunisian Chemical Group Ecocide In Gabes (tunisia)
Final score:
0points
#82
The Tunisian Chemical Group Ecocide In Gabes (tunisia)
Final score:
0points
#83
The Tunisian Chemical Group Ecocide In Gabes (tunisia)
Final score:
0points
#84
The Tunisian Chemical Group Ecocide In Gabes (tunisia)
Final score:
0points
#85
The Tunisian Chemical Group Ecocide In Gabes (tunisia)
Final score:
0points
#86
The Tunisian Chemical Group Ecocide In Gabes (tunisia)
Final score:
0points
#87
The Tunisian Chemical Group Ecocide In Gabes (tunisia)
Final score:
0points
#88
The Tunisian Chemical Group Pollution In Gabes (tunisia)
Final score:
0points
#89
The Tunisian Chemical Group Ecocide In Gabes (tunisia)
Final score:
0points
#90
The Tunisian Chemical Group Ecocide In Gabes (tunisia)
Final score:
0points
#91
The Tunisian Chemical Group Ecocide In Gabes (tunisia)
Final score:
0points
#92
The Tunisian Chemical Group Ecocide In Gabes (tunisia)
Final score:
0points
#93
The Tunisian Chemical Group Ecocide In Gabes (tunisia)
Final score:
0points
#94
The Tunisian Chemical Group Ecocide In Gabes (tunisia)
Final score:
0points
#95
Radioactive Pollution Of Gabes Coast (tunisia)
Final score:
0points
#96
The Tunisian Chemical Group Ecocide In Gabes (tunisia)
Final score:
0points
#97
The Tunisian Chemical Group Ecocide In Gabes (tunisia)
Final score:
0points
#98
The Tunisian Chemical Group Ecocide In Gabes (tunisia)
Final score:
0points
#99
The Tunisian Chemical Group Ecocide In Gabes (tunisia)
Final score:
0points
#100
The Tunisian Chemical Group Ecocide In Gabes (tunisia)
Final score:
0points
#101
The Tunisian Chemical Group Pollution In Gabes (tunisia)
Final score:
0points
#102
The Tunisian Chemical Group Ecocide In Gabes (tunisia)
Final score:
0points
#103
The Tunisian Chemical Group Ecocide In Gabes (tunisia)
Final score:
0points
#104
The Tunisian Chemical Group Ecocide In Gabes (tunisia)
Final score:
0points
#105
The Tunisian Chemical Group Ecocide In Gabes (tunisia)
Final score:
0points
#106
The Tunisian Chemical Group Ecocide In Gabes (tunisia)
Final score:
0points
#107
The Tunisian Chemical Group Ecocide In Gabes (tunisia)
Final score:
0points
#108
The Tunisian Chemical Group Ecocide In Gabes (tunisia)
Final score:
0points
#109
The Tunisian Chemical Group Ecocide In Gabes (tunisia)
Final score:
0points
#110
The Tunisian Chemical Group Ecocide In Gabes (tunisia)
Final score:
0points
#111
The Dog's Really Want To Eat Something (romania)
Final score:
0points
#112
Nuclear Waste Px Born Monkey Man Hybrid
Final score:
0points
#113
Social Impact Entrepreneur Solving Global Problems With Neutopia Ecoparks, Belize 2015
Final score:
-1point
RobertLaporte (Submission author) 9 years ago
Neutopia ecoSOLUTIONS Inc is world's first social impact environmental solutions company, ANYONE CAN DO IT!
#114
Sleeping Waterbury Squalor Albino
Final score:
-1point
YvesWouters 9 years ago
this photograph is an insult to all who take the placing of pictures about polution serious.
#115
Capitalism
Final score:
-2points
Add New Image
What do you think ?
sctntxtn13 9 years ago
God put us here to take care of His creatures, not kill them with trash
sctntxtn13 9 years ago
God put us here to take care of His creatures, not kill them with trash
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