pollution

Photographer Puts Mermaid on 10,000 Plastic Bottles to Raise Awareness

Over the past year or so, photographer Benjamin Von Wong has taken his talent for epic photo shoots and turned it towards trying to raise awareness for "boring" topics like climate change or wildlife conservation. His latest project continues this trend; this time, he's taking on plastic pollution.

The Polluted Waters of NYC’s Gowanus Canal Turned into Colorful and Abstract Art

Peer into the Gowanus Canal in New York City, and you'll see what is widely recognized as one of the most polluted bodies of water in the United States. The contamination is so bad that the canal has been designated a Superfund site.

When photographer Steven Hirsch looks, he sees something more: fine art. His project “Gowanus: Off The Water’s Surface" is a series of photographs that explore the abstract explosions of patterns and colors seen on the surface of the water -- sights reminiscent of a Jackson Pollock painting.

Toxic Waters: Photographing the Severe Pollution in Jakarta, Indonesia

In April of this year, I travelled to the Indonesian capital of Jakarta for the first time. I was excited to visit this new city and start to photograph in one of the world’s most underreported emerging economies. I had read stories about the city’s challenges with water and flooding, which is why I wanted to photograph there and continue my work on environmental issues in developing nations. I wasn’t prepared for the shocking scenes that I was to witness in my time in the city.

How an Instagram Hashtag is Helping to Clean up the Environment

Starting a global movement using a photography app is no small task, but that's what Jeff Kirschner has done this last year. Using the hashtag #litterati, he's managed to start a world-wide Instagram campaign that is helping to stop pollution and clean up the environment one piece of trash at a time.

Time-Slice Composite Photo Captures the Changing Air Quality in Beijing

A neat way to capture the passage of time is to photograph one scene multiple times throughout a day, slice up the resulting photos, and then combine them into a single composite image showing all the different hours as slices. In the past we've shown examples of this technique done in cities and with sunsets.

Chinese photographer Wei Yao of Reuters used this same concept, but instead of shooting photos over a number of hours, his image spans days. Instead of focusing on the passage of time, his image highlights Beijing's serious pollution problem.