A Photographer Takes Powerful Shots of Earth’s Pollution to Show Us the Cost of Modern Life

A New-York and Berlin based photographer named J. Henry Fair uses pictures to reveal things that may be affecting us in the world. The environmental activist travels the globe to be able to capture unique shots that make his photography stand out. His project called “Industrial Scars” explores the detritus of our consumer society. In small planes, he flies over industrial areas and photographs the damaged parts that we have created with the help of industrialization. From oil drilling to habitat destruction, all his works illustrate the sad side of our modern reality.

We at Bright Side are both amazed at how magnificent Fair’s photos are and saddened at how much humankind has impacted the planet. Here’s some of the photographer’s best work.

An oil spill on the Gulf of Mexico

Mining waste flowing from the mountain to the sea

Waste ponds at a chemical plant

Bauxite waste from aluminum production

Radioactive phosphate fertilizer waste

A coal slurry-detritus of water and chemicals after coal was washed

A bulldozer pushing waste from an oil refinement

The new waste pond at a phosphate fertilizer mining site

Immiscible oil on the Gulf of Mexico

The apache copper inner wall of an open-pit copper mine

A waste impoundment at an Arctic iron mine

Arsenic and water-coal ash waste at an electricity generator plant

Air pollution over a sulfur waste pit at an oil refinery

Meat consumption causing Hog Lake fecal waste

A waste pit at an herbicide manufacturing plant

Causes of global warming: molten sulfur forming tar sands at a refinery pumped onto a sulfur stack

Liquid waste at a brown coal mine

Waste from a phosphate fertilizer manufacturer

Aerators agitating waste from a manufacturer of facial tissue

Which of these pics impressed you the most? Is there a way you personally try to help the environment?