pollution photo essay

• PHOTOGRAPHY

Peter Essick’s Journey into Environmental Photojournalism

As both a picture and environment editor at National Geographic I live a hybrid life. On one hand I try to imagine how we can visualize—in fresh and compelling ways—the goings-on in our world for the stories we publish. On the other hand I’m deeply involved in conceiving and helping create many of our projects about global environmental change. I thrive where these two spheres intersect.

This intersection might best be described as “environmental photojournalism”—a combination of documentary photojournalism and environmental journalism. It’s a two-fold discipline inspired and informed by scientists who study patterns of change on our planet, largely brought about by humanity’s expanding presence. It also encompasses the finest traditions of world-class documentary photography—trying to eloquently make visual sense of our world so readers can better understand how to find their own place in it.

Among the most memorable environmental photojournalism projects I’ve been involved with have been collaborations with photographer Peter Essick. We first teamed up nearly 20 years ago on a project about non-point source water pollution —the kind that flows into rivers, bays, and the sea from fertilized lawns, farms, paved highways, and parking lots. This diffuse runoff pollution contributes to “hypoxic” or dead zones like those we find in the Chesapeake Bay, and the Gulf of Mexico near the Mississippi River delta.

Since that first story, Peter and I have traveled the road of environmental photojournalism together, teaming on 14 stories with subjects as diverse as nuclear waste, paleoclimatology, America’s wilderness, and the chemical pollution cocktail we each carry inside us .   We collaborated on a 74-page climate change project in September 2004, and in 2010 we explored Greenland as it “greens up” in the face of rising global temperatures.

In 2009 Peter created a powerful photo essay on the impact of tar (or oil) sands mining in Alberta , and he recently photographed a beautiful black and white essay on the Ansel Adams Wilderness of California . He is incredibly versatile.

Peter has just released a new book called “Our Beautiful, Fragile World” —a retrospective of his 25 years as a photographer who’s been deeply engrossed in documenting the resilience of the natural world at the nexus of increasing encroachment and impact from expanding human activity.

I recently interviewed Peter about his origins and trajectory as an environmental photographer:

DENNIS DIMICK: You were a business major in college, then went to graduate school at Missouri for photojournalism. How did you get interested in photography?

PETER ESSICK: My father was a science teacher and a lover of the outdoors. We went on a lot of trips, hiking, skiing, river rafting when I was growing up and he always took pictures with his trusty Nikon F to show his classes. So my father taught me how to use a camera, but it wasn’t until I took a photography class in high school that I really fell in love with the medium.

DENNIS: Who are your inspirations? Photographically? Environmentally?

PETER: Ansel Adams was my biggest inspiration starting out. I learned much of what I still know from his Basic Photo series. I also liked Eliot Porter for his color work. I admire many contemporary photographers who are pushing boundaries in the digital era. However, I still find myself drawn to photographs that are timeless, and the understated work of photographers like Robert Adams or Atget.

My father used to quote John Muir a lot. I inherited a complete set of Muir’s writings from him, and I have read many of the classic thinkers on wilderness, from Aldo Leopold to Edward Abbey. Finding Beauty in a Broken World   by Terry Tempest Williams is sort of my guiding light for what a good environmental photograph should be.

DENNIS: People are always interested in finding out how photographers are able to get assignments from National Geographic . How did you make your connection?

PETER: When I was at the University of Missouri I was selected as a summer intern based on a portfolio I had submitted. It was how I got my foot in the door and I am still very thankful that   National Geographic gave me that opportunity. It was truly life changing in every way.

DENNIS: Was there an event or situation that caused you to focus on environmental issues?

PETER: The assignment I did for a National Geographic special issue on water in 1993 was my first exposure to photographing an important environmental issue. I found I liked the intellectual challenge and the work seemed worthwhile beyond just the artistic value.

DENNIS: What have been your favorite or most rewarding projects?

PETER: My favorite place of any that I have visited is Patagonia in the southern part of Argentina and Chile. The high desert, blue lakes, dramatic peaks of the Andes and the amazing clouds and weather are all a dream for a landscape photographer. The gauchos are also great subjects. Close runner-ups would be the Ansel Adams Wilderness, California, and Yoho National Park, British Columbia.

Overall, the most rewarding story I have done is about climate change in 2004. That is one I can look back on and feel good that I was able to do that story. It was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. As Yogi Berra would say, those don’t come along too often.

“My best motivation to do environmental stories is when I see children like the boy looking out the window in Butte and wonder about the world we are leaving for them.” —Peter Essick

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DENNIS: How about most challenging? The first project you and I did together was on non-point source water pollution, and just this year you took a new look at the impacts of fertilizer —an important aspect in the original story. We also did a project on “toxic people” —or the chemical pollution inside us, and then there was nuclear waste. None of those projects were easy, right?

PETER: In general, environmental stories are more difficult than landscape stories because of problems getting access to sites and finding people who will agree to be photographed. On the positive side, I found it exciting to work on a story like non-point source water pollution because it had never been done before and there were no other past stories to live up to. Stories on pollution or waste I find fascinating for the dystopian elements, and they usually have visual potential, too.

DENNIS: What did you learn about yourself and your work while editing this book and reviewing the photographs?

PETER: I feel I have a unique story to tell with this book. When I have been able to break through all the noise to try to be heard, I have been getting a good response. The combination of a photojournalist and environmentalist seems like a logical one, but it really isn’t all that common. I learned how to write about my photographs doing this book.

I often walk up Stone Mountain near my home in Georgia for exercise, and I found I got a lot of ideas while walking up and down the trail.

“Many of my successful photographs are the result of discovering a scene and then going back several times to get the best picture possible. This photograph is the result of having an idea and then executing it despite the obstacles.” —Peter Essick

DENNIS: What do you tell young photographers who come to you interested in pursuing the kind of work you have done?

PETER: Many people contact me saying they are interested in becoming a National Geographic photographer and I have taught many workshops on nature photography. However, very few young photographers seem as interested in doing environmental stories. I feel going forward we will need more photographers doing this work, and that is one of the reasons that I produced this book.

DENNIS: What kinds of projects would you like to do that you have not had a chance to pursue? Or put another way, what’s next for Peter?

PETER: This book and one coming out in the spring on the Ansel Adams Wilderness have opened up a lot of opportunities for me. I am doing lots of lectures, workshops, some exhibits. And I’m planning to keep making new nature and environmental photographs. I recently bought an Ebony view camera and have been using it to make 4×5 collodion wet plates. The images seem to have a lot of potential to evoke a passage of time that is unique to the process. In many ways, it feels like now I am reaching back to look forward.

Peter Essick’s new book, “Our Beautiful, Fragile World” is published by Rocky Nook Books. See more work on his website and follow him on Twitter and Instagram .

Dennis Dimick can be found on Flickr , Twitter , and Instagram .

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Hall Record

Pollution photo essay.

Joseph Fineboy , Photojournalist | January 27, 2021

One of the biggest problems in our society is pollution. We have acknowledged it and have made moves to make it better but we still have a huge effect on our environment. Despite having a lot of ways to stop pollution, our day to day lifestyles have a significant impact on the world around us. One way pollution is happening around the world is carelessness, as I’ve been alive for 17 years I’ve noticed that when people litter and they justify it by saying that “One thing won’t hurt” and “everyone else does it” another one I’ve heard is that they just don’t care. I feel like something that would really help would be to push the agenda of living cleaner lifestyles. Little things would help like holding your trash and not throwing it out of the window while driving and also recycling things that can be recycled. Nowadays it seems like people acknowledged something and don’t care enough to make slight changes, pollution affects everything, and people don’t realize that we are just making things harder for ourselves in the long run. A major problem that we have with pollution is the pollution we don’t see such as chemicals in the environment and gasses. A significant part of the problem has to do with our planet’s carbon cycle, the planet already has natural levels of carbon but when we dig up carbon-rich coal, oil, and gas and burn it to fuel our vehicles and our 20 first century lifestyles we basically overload the system. When this happens the extra carbon just sits in the atmosphere as a greenhouse gas insulating the planet and changing the climate. This is just another huge problem that society needs to figure out before it’s too late, hopefully by the time my generation comes to power we will have this under control.

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This article was contributed by Amanda Lenhardt in support of The Overseas Development Institute.

Growing up in a small town in Northern Canada, climate change wasn’t something I thought of often. And once I did learn about the global impacts of a changing climate a little later in life, the topic seemed too daunting to fully process. I tend to think of myself as an optimist, of the opinion that through thoughtful action we can see the positive changes we want for the world. The environment was always my one exception though, and while I’m typically up for a good challenge, I chose to work on global poverty issues because this seemed more within the realm of the possible than anything related to climate change.  

It wasn’t until a recent trip to Burkina Faso, a landlocked country in West Africa, that some light was shed on my gloomy outlook for the future of the planet. It was there, at the front lines of the fight against climate change, that I witnessed people taking up the task that I had been too timid to even consider. 

Image: Amanda Lenhardt / ODI

Amidst all the talk of climate change, for most people dominating the discussion, climate change is a distant concept - either it's something of concern for the future, or something experienced elsewhere. For farmers in Northern Burkina Faso on the edge of the Sahel desert though, climate change is a daily reality.  The temperaments of the climate dictate whether the season’s crops will yield enough food for families to eat, and whether enough will be produced to sell in order to afford to send kids to school or attend to health needs.

Last year, like many years in recent memory, the rains came late. Uncertainty has become the new normal for those living off of an unforgiving landscape where population pressures, deforestation and unsustainable farming practices have paved the way for the Sahel desert to creep ever closer. 

But farmers in Northern Burkina Faso are not sitting idly as the climate changes around them. For many years they have been adapting farming techniques to conserve water and regenerate soil in an effort to reclaim land from the desert and to adapt to changing weather patterns. 

Over the last 25 years, around 200,000 to 300,000 hectares of desertified lands have been reclaimed in Burkina Faso through the labour and investments of smallholder farmers, and with the support of national NGOs, international donors and government services. 

The use of improved farming techniques has meant that more food is produced and that families’ periods of food shortage have been significantly reduced. Although drought remains a threat year-on-year, the devastating famines experienced in the 1970s have so far been averted.  

However these gains are fragile, and many of the poorest farmers are unable to take on any further investment or dedicate any additional labour to continue to help the region adapt. More needs to be done to translate promises made by the world’s leaders into practical and effective support for families on the front lines of the fight against climate change.  

I left Burkina Faso feeling both humbled by the tireless efforts of people who are combatting desertification and climatic change, but also with a newfound optimism for the efficacy of actions towards a more sustainable world.  For those of us feeling overwhelmed by what that task might entail, one way to start is to extend support to those who’ve already taken up the challenge, as their fight is also our common fight. 

To find out more about how farmers in Burkina Faso are finding solutions to climate change, take a look at this short film:

Defend the Planet

Photo Essay: The real faces of climate change

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Photo Essay, Snap Shot 3 – Climate Change and Food #Connected2

November 10, 2021 • 3 min read

Why a Photo Essay?  

This Photo Essay are the result of small groups of young people coming together and asking themselves what it meant to be #Connected2 to the bigger system. 

Why Snap Shots?   

If the Photo Essay was a book, each Snap Shop is  a chapter telling stories from around the world.

Welcome to our third   Snap Shot!  Explore with us the impact of climate change on global food systems and how these are felt  across different countries and communities. Even though each environment is unique and so different, we are all impacted by them equally. Global challenges such as climate change and our actions have Global consequences.

Sara Dada & Telma Sibanda’s Photos

credit: Sara Dada

credit: Telma Sibanda

Our daily activities have a deep impact not only on our immediate surroundings but on the wider planet. Litter, noise and CO2 emissions are eroding the natural beauty of our world, threatening the diversity of wildlife, and impacting the wellbeing of humans. As global citizens, we recognize that the earth’s air, land, and oceans are polluted by landfills in Uganda, traffic in Zimbabwe, and industrial air pollution in Ireland. We see the potentially irreversible effects of climate change in our communities every day.  

Emmanuel Dusabimana & Catherine Finn ‘s Photos

credit: Catherine Finn

credit: Emmanuel Dusabimana

These high levels of pollution affect our fields, rivers, and sources of food and water. As pollution continues to contribute to climate change, the effects often present themselves unequally: the areas which contribute the least are impacted the most. Water is an essential resource to all human life, and has the power to shape our lands and the food that we eat. Unchecked, pollution and climate change threaten access to drinking water, and rising sea levels may permanently flood settled land. We are connected as global citizens through these impacts, whether we are already living with climate change or have yet to experience it.  

Catherine Finn & Telma Sibanda’s Photos

Like dominos falling, our actions and behaviours have consequences in our own communities and around the globe. The manner in which we produce and access food demonstrates that each of us are deeply connected to one another and to the planet. The marketplace gives an insight into this relationship –  imported produce in Ireland, locally sourced food in Uganda, and empty stalls in Zimbabwe. While some communities will be unable to produce enough food or may face empty shelves at the market, others will throw away unused excess. This reality can be a catalyst for a more sustainable future, but it is the collective effort of our global community that will determine the direction we follow.  

Follow @GOALNextGen and @goal_global and make sure you don’t miss the rest of the Snap Shots!

Interested in joining the  #Connected2  campaign or our  GOAL Global Youth Program?   Check out our Global Citizenship page or contact the team at  [email protected]  for more info.

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Member Stories , Plastics & Health - Posted on April 04, 2018

Photo essay: playgrounds and pollution, alison's toxic tour of houston and its horrifying array of polluting facilities near homes and schools. here's what that means for you..

• Corporate Accountability
• Member Stories
• Petrochemicals & Climate
• Plastics & Health
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Toxic Tour: Why Houston?

Last week in Houston, Texas I was fortunate enough go on an alarming but thoroughly enlightening “ toxic tour ” of the Houston Ship Channel,  where about a quarter of U.S. petrochemicals are manufactured.  The tour, led the local advocacy group Texas Environmental Justice Advocacy Services ( t.e.j.a.s. ), gave me a very valuable understanding of the ubiquitously hazardous impacts the oil and gas, petrochemical and plastics industries have on the communities that surround their facilities.

Currently, there is a  growing global awareness  around the problem with plastic. But many people don’t realize that the process of creating plastics is also inherently toxic, reliant on dirty fossil fuels and chemical manufacturing.

The fracking boom and its result -- cheap natural gas -- have spawned a resurgence in plastics manufacturing and the pollution it creates. Specifically, the fracking boom has produced an oversupply of ethane, a hydrocarbon present in certain shale gas reserves. This has been a  boon for the plastics industry , which relies on petrochemical manufacturing to turn ethane into plastic.

Transforming ethane into plastics pollutes the environment and imposes public health risks on industry workers and nearby communities. 

But transforming ethane into plastics pollutes the environment and imposes public health risks on industry workers and nearby communities. Plants that convert natural gas into petrochemicals are known to emit  massive amounts of air and climate pollutants,  including ozone-creating volatile organic compounds (such as benzene and toluene) and nitrogen oxide.

ExxonMobil in Houston

Seeing The Impact: Playgrounds and Polluting Plants

Our first stop on the tour was a community park, surrounded by homes, directly across the street from ExxonMobil's Baytown Complex. While only there for thirty minutes, some in my group had to cover their faces with their shirts or hands,  unable to tolerate the stench coming from the facility . One group member had to flush her eyes in a bathroom sink because of the irritating emissions.

On a later stop in the   Manchester/Harrisburg neighborhood, I was shocked to see that Valero's   refinery (which is one of sixteen chemical plants within a 3-mile radius of the community) --  with its colossal emissions plumes -- is  literally in the backyard of homes,  and  less than two  miles from  schools . Just this year the first  national study  analyzing air pollution and schools found that exposure to toxic emissions not only affects children's health but can also negatively impact academic performance. The study also found that  children of color are more likely to live near air pollution than white children.  

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The Fracking and Chemical Industries Want To Make Things Worse

The fracking-driven industry expansion will likely generate even more plastic and pollution as more ethane crackers come online. An ethane cracker is a type of petrochemical facility that uses a series of processes involving steam or heat to "crack" ethane into ethylene, the most frequently produced petrochemical, which common plastic is made from.

To date, there are approximately 30 ethane crackers in the U.S., and all but three are located in Texas and Louisiana. More than 20 new crackers and ethylene production expansion projects have been proposed across the U.S. While most are slated for the Gulf region, five have been proposed in the tristate Appalachian region of West Virginia, Ohio and Pennsylvania, where there is a huge push to create a new epicenter for chemical manufacturing.

Petrochemical and plastics production facilities in Houston.

To advance this plan, gas and chemical industries are investing in an  Appalachian petrochemical complex  in the Ohio River Valley, including regional ethane crackers, pipeline infrastructure, and a large underground storage facility. These industries and their supporters seemingly want to make Appalachia the next Houston, Texas.

Both the shale gas and chemical industries in this area seem to view the expansion of infrastructure and pipelines, increased gas and natural gas liquids exports and the development of a larger, regional petrochemical sector as a panacea to their problems -- an overabundance of low-priced gas which can only become profitable through new markets (exports) or new products (plastics) to drive up demand.

Dirty Industries Profit By Destroying Frontline Communities

All of this would spell doom for the frontline communities in Houston, Appalachia and elsewhere, where children and families bear the startling human cost of dirty industry profits. Rather than continually investing in fossil fuels and chemical industries, we must invest in clean, renewable energy. It's time to move off fossil fuels once and for all. This means moving away from plastic as well.

TAKE ACTION

Written by Alison Grass. Blog originally appeared at Food and Water Watch.

Evacuation plans often fail to consider those who can't easily leave their homes, due to disabilities or lack of ... accessible transportation. #Climateweek #ChemicalDisaster https://peopleoverpetro.org/project/disaster-preparedness/ @bcmac_ @BreatheProject @CoalfldJustice @CleanAirAction @WVCAG @brkfreeplastic

BREAKING: California governor signs law banning ALL plastic shopping bags at grocery stores!👏👏👏This makes the ... Golden State one of 12 states with a statewide ban on single-use plastic bags. Like if you think it's time to ban the bag once and for all!

When Pollution Meets a Pandemic

The following photo essay includes the words and photographs of Italian photojournalist Marco Sacco.  

Many people visualize Kathmandu, Nepal, as a sort of ethereal entrance to the Himalaya, but few imagine it as one of the most polluted cities in the world. The WHO recently declared air pollution to be the single-largest cause of death in Nepal . Over 35,000 Nepalis die each year from respiratory diseases related to air pollution. Since a massive earthquake devastated the country in 2015, Kathmandu has seen a large increase in population and urbanization. Extra traffic and the lack of vehicle regulations—combined with the rapid growth of suburbs, where waste is burned and coal is used for cooking—have increased the risk of severe symptoms in epidemics like tuberculosis and, now, SARS-CoV-2. My photography reflects how these environmental factors put a population as risk in one of the most beautiful landscapes on Earth.

(A microscopic view of Mycobacterium tuberculosis. )

Photo Essay : On the Frontline of Climate Change and Displacement

A string of remote Pacific island nations is highly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change such as rising seas, storms surges, land subsidence (sinking), changes to rainfall and stronger cyclones. The sheer variety of challenges faced by communities is illustrative at the Korova Settlement in Suva, Fiji. Korova is a coastal settlement with only eight houses occupying the area, mostly are Moce Islanders.

The are provides a good setting for environment stories and seeing first-hand the impacts of the changing climate as the Islanders left their island in Lau Group, Fiji due to rising seas.

So, on July 25, a group of 28 journalists and communications officers visited the Korova community. The visit was part of the two-day workshop to strengthen the capacity of media in reporting climate-related issues. The workshop was a collaboration between Internews’ Earth Journalism Network (EJN), the COP 23 Presidency Secretariat, and the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP), supported by the Pacific Islands News Association (PINA) and the Pacific Environment Journalists Network.

Here’s an exclusive photo essay from one of our workshop participants,  Aude-Emilie Dorion , a photojournalist from New Caledonia. Her images tell the story of traditional ocean voyagers of Korova that capture the grave threat climate change poses to the Pacific islands.

Southern Suburb – Suva

Isolated by the endless blue, Fiji is an archipelago of 322 islands forged by volcanoes. As the sea temperatures are rising, new waves of change are looming threatening to turn the country into a battleground. The coral reefs are dying and the natural breakwater that protects Fiji’s shorelines has been washed away. Its islanders are on the front line of the fight to restore the balance in order to survive.

KOROVA BY THE SHORE

Today, most of Fiji’s almost one million population lives on the big Island of Viti Levu. The capital Suva and a dozen other coastal towns pulse to an urban beat. In Korova, a southern suburb of town, all the mangrove have been washed away. The villagers are restoring it to protect themselves from the sea level rise, as well as burrying old tires in the sand to stop the erosion of the shore.

RESILIENT & STRONG

Unexpected violent weather threatens the villagers way of life. Outside of the cities half of all households depend on fishing.

Strong and resilient, the villagers have made the choice to stay here for the children’s education, despite the dangerous changes powered by El Nino.

CLIMATE JUSTICE

The people are making do with limited means. Rebuilding lives every time it is necessary and trying to avoid pandemic diseases.

There is no government assistance in these days, nor any support for prevention and treatment.

WITH NO WARNING, THE SEA CAN GET VERY ROUGH NOWADAYS.

WITH ALL SORTS OF CHANGING.

In Korova, life is organised along the rules of traditional lines. The importance of the old ways is clear to see : respecting the sea means no use of motor boats. Semiti Cama, 74 , village chief of Korova.

SOURCE OF INCOME

Life moving at its own pace. Villagers leaving as a collective bring the work and the wealth among themselves

When fishing is unsuccessful, we rely on the manufacturing of Tapas. We sell them cheap in the market place, says 53 years old craftwoman Vunisa Baleinabola.

THESE SHORES ARE THE FRONTLINE OF CLIMATE CHANGE – WHAT HAPPENS HERE MATTERS TO US ALL.

Since the dawn of time, it is the sea that has kept the equilibrium as powerful wave sculpted the landscape. Life on Fiji evolved in sync with a swell but the tide is now turning… The sea surrounding the islands is warming killing the fragile ecosystem beneath – a symptom of global warming – the islanders must address, or suffer the effects.

Related Stories

Fiji-led dialogues aim to bolster global climate action

The Marrakesh Climate Conference Delivers Significant Outcomes Amid Looming Uncertainty

Russian Plan and Other INDCs are Redeemable

What are the links between climate change and migration?

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Photo Essay: A Solution for Pollution 

Crowley’s Ridge State Park in northeast Arkansas is one of Arkansas’s six original state parks, constructed in the 1930s by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC). Today, those original native stone and wood structures create a setting of rustic serenity among the natural surroundings. 

To this day, part of the park’s mission is to protect natural resources. Our team strives to do this all year by recycling. Recycling is a great way to protect our native wildlife from ingesting foreign objects and it protects the park from trash build up. We encourage you to make this mission your own. By using your two hands and a bin, you can be the SOLUTION to POLLUTION. All you need to do is recycle!  

Something you may not know is that recycling regulations can vary from county to county. For the do’s and don’ts of recycling and county regulations in your area, contact your local landfill.  

Did you know that it can take plastic bags up to 1,000 years to decompose? And that Styrofoam never decomposes! Our park rangers need your help with this heavy load! Let’s lift a finger and help Mother Earth with some of this waste.  

Americans use 85 million tons of paper per year - about 680 pounds per person. That’s more than 1.5 tractor tires PER PERSON just in paper. By recycling one ton of paper a year, we can save 7,000 gallons of water. That’s only 3 people recycling their paper products a year. Just three! That means YOU can make a big difference with your actions. And, imagine if we ALL did it! 

Everywhere you look at Crowley’s Ridge State Park, you can find recycling efforts. 

Join the fight! Do what’s right!  

“If you think you’re too small to make a difference, you haven’t spent the night with a mosquito” - African Proverb  

Recycling really does allow you to make a difference. I invite you to join Crowley’s Ridge State Park and take a small, but mighty step in the right direction of creating a better tomorrow, today. By using your two hands and a bin, you can improve the Earth now and for the future. I challenge you all to join the fight, do what’s right, and be the solution to the pollution.  

Visit our  park webpage  to find out more about our park history and amenities, and to plan your next park visit!  

Elizabeth Kimble

Elizabeth is the park interpreter at Crowley’s Ridge State Park. As a child, she had a love for nature and the outdoors. As she got older, she became interested in childcare and pursued that part-time during high school and college. Now, having a job that combines her loves of the outdoors, children, and education is a dream come true. In her free time, she enjoys spending time with her family, attending church, and exploring The Natural State with her husband and son.

Itineraries and Ideas

Photo Essay: Postcards From the Second Most Air Polluted City in the World

Co-founder, Vanishing Cultures Project

It's coming on winter, and Ulaanbaatar, the capital city of Mongolia, is making its annual transformation into the second most air polluted city in the world. According to a comprehensive study on urban air quality conducted by the World Health Organization , Ulaanbaatar follows closely behind the world's most polluted city, Ahwaz, Iran.

Ulaanbaatar houses a third of the country's total population of 3.1 million people, and the habits of these overcrowded residents are seriously damaging the air. Over half the city's population lives in ger (yurt) districts that ring the nation's capital. These neighborhoods are notorious for their lack of public works, including electricity and sanitation. In the bitter winter months, the 800,000 residents in these ger districts have to burn coal to heat their homes.

The particles emitted from burned coal coupled with weather conditions that trap in pollution are the major causes of Ulaanbaatar's notorious air quality. According to a 2011 study , an estimated 10-25 percent of deaths in Ulaanbaatar in a given year are due to particles in the air. In addition to such health hazards, air pollution hits the national bottom line as well: The study says air pollution-related issues, such as illness, time taken off of work, and death, cost Ulaanbaatar about $500 million USD annually. This is a whopping 20 percent of Ulaanbaatar's 2008 GDP.

Although the general population complains of the city's air quality, many remain in the dark about how to affect real change. But Christa Hasenkopf, National Science Foundation Postdoctorate Fellow and winner of a Fulbright research grant to Mongolia, is trying to educate urbanites and to get Ulaanbaatar's youth to care about their city's air. She has started a project that posts daily air quality data provided by the City Air Quality Agency on social media for the first time in Mongolia.

"We think it is vital for citizens of one of the world's most polluted cities to have easy access to air quality information and given clear explanations of how to interpret it through social media," says Haskopf. "Providing this information empowers the public to play an important role in having a say in the future of the air quality and, ultimately, the health of their home."

To help the residents of Ulaanbaatar raise awareness of the importance of clean air, visit and share the work of UB Air Quality Info on Facebook and @UB_Air on Twitter. Taking part in or just showing public support of the dialogue can go a long way in maintaining air-cleaning efforts such as the World Bank's Ulaanbaatar Clean Air Project .

All photos are courtesy of Taylor Weidman/The Vanishing Cultures Project (c) 2012.

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More in environment.

W. Eugene Smith’s Warning to the World

The Magnum photographer made his last photo essay about industrial mercury poisoning in the Japanese city of Minamata, helping to bring justice and visibility to the victims

W. Eugene Smith

The photo-essay and subsequent book, Minamata: A Warning to the World, was a collaboration between Smith and his then wife Aileen M. Smith, whose photographs are also featured below.

“Photography is a small voice, at best, but sometimes – just sometimes – one photograph or a group of them can lure our senses into awareness. Much depends upon the viewer; in some, photographs can summon enough emotion to be a catalyst to thought.” So wrote W. Eugene Smith in 1974. A master of twentieth-century photojournalism, Smith was obsessive in the pursuit of his vision. This obsession is perhaps most evident in his long term project  documenting the deadly effects of industrial mercury pollution in Minamata. Smith saw the work as a “warning to the world” and ultimately put his life on the line to give a voice to the victims. For years, Chisso Corporation’s chemical factory in the Japanese city of Minamata had released methylmercury through its industrial wastewater into Minamata Bay and the Shiranui Sea. This bio-accumulated in the local marine life, leading to thousands of cases of mercury poisoning in the local populace, who ingested the toxic food caught in their fishing nets. For more than three decades, the government and Chisso Corporation did little to prevent the pollution. The company even covered up research that “pointed to [its] recklessness”, as was subsequently reported by The New York Times   among others. It wasn’t until 1968 that the government finally issued a statement officially recognising Minamata disease as an illness caused by industrial pollution, and from that point the victims’ struggle for compensation began in earnest.

Theory & Practice

W. Eugene Smith: Master of the Photo Essay

When Smith arrived in Minamata in 1971 he had already covered the bloody invasions of Tara-wa, Guam and Iwo Jima as LIFE ’s WWII correspondent and had produced genre-defining photo essays. But the story made in Minamata would be his last, and arguably most influential, work. Smith became interested in traveling to the city after he was contacted by a member of the Minamata movement. He and his partner Aileen Mioko Smith packed up Smith’s loft in New York, travelled to Tokyo and, now married, relocated to Minamata along with their recently recruited assistant, Takeshi Ishikawa.  The couple planned to stay for three months but ended up staying three years. “Of course it was very sensitive, we didn’t go barging in,” says Aileen, who photographed alongside Smith on the project and co-authored the resulting book. “We lived there, got to know the people, and photographed. The victims were receptive; the feeling was: ‘We  want the world to know’.” 

The Pacific War: 1942-1945

"the first word i would strike from the annals of journalism is the word objective", - w. eugene smith.

They rented a small house from the family of one of the victims, Toyoko Mizoguchi; the room the Smiths slept in was their altar to her. “I lived with her photograph for three years above my bed. We never met her but she is very deep in my heart,” says Aileen. “Everyone lived really close and during the lawsuit everyone got on the bus and went to the trial; we’d  all go together and sleep together in one huge room, all the futons lined up. When you’re like that together you get close!”  Smith’s closeness to the families is a powerful element of the photography.  One image—which Aileen has subsequently decided to withhold from  circulation out of respect for the family—is called Tomoko and Mother in  the Bath . The picture shows a loving mother caring for her daughter, who is  contorted by her illness; seemingly unaware of her surroundings. It was taken on a chilly December afternoon in 1971 and would “never have happened if the will of the photographer had merely been asserted upon his subjects,” says Aileen. “He used to say he was like a mouse when he photographed.” 

Country Doctor

Smith was first and foremost a journalist and he made no secret of his   determinedly subjective approach. He put himself—and therefore the  viewer—at the emotional center of what he was seeing.  “He would always say: ‘The first word I would strike from the annals of journalism is the word objective’,” says Aileen. “I think you really need to understand the subjects; not worry that if you get close you lose your objectivity and side with them. It was about understanding their reality and what they were really like. We went to Chisso and interviewed them and we wanted to know what Chisso was really like too…they didn’t let us in as much of course.” 

Let Truth be the Prejudice

Smith is often described as having a thorny character but little is written about his sense of humour. “At Gene’s core was integrity and humour,” says Aileen, who was 31 years his junior. “He was corny all the time. His puns didn’t translate into Japanese but everybody loved him anyway. In the evening our landlord might come over to our house from next door and the two tipsy men would start line dancing arm-in-arm, our landlord singing an old military war song. People asked about the age gap and I would say: ‘Yes, he was so young and I was so old’.”  This playful personality translated into his work. His photographs not only showed the victims’ physical and mental pain but also their determination, humanity and moments of joy. In the book Minamata , Smith writes of one patient—the “irrepressible” Isamu Nagai—who “crawls and grabs and has acquired a movie camera and is determined to ‘blast Chisso out of this world’!” Smith was drawn to the strength of the victims, as much he felt bound to bare witness to their afflictions. 

By the time he was working on Minamata, Smith was suffering from his own set of ailments, sustained while photographing in WWII (in the Battle of Okinawa he was seriously injured by mortar fire) as well as injuries from two plane crashes. “He was a body full of pain,” says Aileen. This was to be further compounded after he suffered serious injuries during a confrontation with Chisso employees at a factory in Goi (situated two hours away from Chisso HQ in Tokyo) in 1972. The Smiths had been covering a meeting at the factory when a “goon squad” arrived and told them to “get out or else”—and violence ensued. “They pulled my hair and other reporters got knocked around, but they were heading for Gene,” remembers Aileen.  Smith’s beating was so severe that “the nerve from his finger to his neck was crushed” causing temporary blindness in one eye as well as blackouts when he raised his arm. “It affected him immensely,” says Mioko Smith. “One time he asked me to grab the axe that was used to split firewood and split his head open because he was in so much pain.” And yet he continued to photograph. “For a while when he couldn’t lift his arm up to  photograph he used a cable release in his mouth. He already had so many injuries, but it was one more that was really heavy upon us. ” 

This was to be Smith’s final photo essay, but the images have taken on a life of their own. Though the impact is impossible to quantify, Aileen says that the images they made are part of the “total effect” which includes the victims’ efforts in winning the lawsuit and the subsequent global media coverage that followed. The photographs were published in LIFE  in 1972, toured in global exhibitions and came together in the publication  of the co-authored book,  Minamata,  in 1975.  The photographs are an historical record of the dreadful consequences of industrial water pollution, but has the world learnt from this tragedy? “I’ve had people saying: ‘I read this book at 13 and it changed my life and the work I do now is because of this book,’” says Aileen. Meanwhile, in Barack Obama’s autobiography, when recollecting his childhood, he mentions being moved by seeing a photo in LIFE  of a woman holding a crippled child in the bath. When Obama became president of the United States, he was instrumental in moving the country forward in the effort to reach an international agreement to curb the use of mercury. Aileen believes the photo must have been Smith’s photo of Tomoko.

"At Gene’s core was integrity and humour"

- aileen m. smith.

Still, industrial pollution remains a global catastrophe and the work feels as urgent today as it did nearly 50 years ago. “All these stories of people fighting give courage. Even if it’s not the same issue or continent,” says Aileen, who, as executive director of the environmental group Green Action (Japan), works as an activist against nuclear power. “This kind of  communication is really important; rather than just hammering facts, you get to know people, your heart is moved—and that’s what really creates core change.”

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What is a Photo Essay? 9 Photo Essay Examples You Can Recreate

A photo essay is a series of photographs that tell a story. Unlike a written essay, a photo essay focuses on visuals instead of words. With a photo essay, you can stretch your creative limits and explore new ways to connect with your audience. Whatever your photography skill level, you can recreate your own fun and creative photo essay.

9 Photo Essay Examples You Can Recreate

• Photowalk Photo Essay
• Transformation Photo Essay
• Day in the Life Photo Essay
• Event Photo Essay
• Building Photo Essay
• Historic Site or Landmark Photo Essay
• Behind the Scenes Photo Essay
• Family Photo Essay
• Education Photo Essay

Stories are important to all of us. While some people gravitate to written stories, others are much more attuned to visual imagery. With a photo essay, you can tell a story without writing a word. Your use of composition, contrast, color, and perspective in photography will convey ideas and evoke emotions.

To explore narrative photography, you can use basic photographic equipment. You can buy a camera or even use your smartphone to get started. While lighting, lenses, and post-processing software can enhance your photos, they aren’t necessary to achieve good results.

Whether you need to complete a photo essay assignment or want to pursue one for fun or professional purposes, you can use these photo essay ideas for your photography inspiration . Once you know the answer to “what is a photo essay?” and find out how fun it is to create one, you’ll likely be motivated to continue your forays into photographic storytelling.

1 . Photowalk Photo Essay

One popular photo essay example is a photowalk. Simply put, a photowalk is time you set aside to walk around a city, town, or a natural site and take photos. Some cities even have photowalk tours led by professional photographers. On these tours, you can learn the basics about how to operate your camera, practice photography composition techniques, and understand how to look for unique shots that help tell your story.

Set aside at least two to three hours for your photowalk. Even if you’re photographing a familiar place—like your own home town—try to look at it through new eyes. Imagine yourself as a first-time visitor or pretend you’re trying to educate a tourist about the area.

Walk around slowly and look for different ways to capture the mood and energy of your location. If you’re in a city, capture wide shots of streets, close-ups of interesting features on buildings, street signs, and candid shots of people. Look for small details that give the city character and life. And try some new concepts—like reflection picture ideas—by looking for opportunities to photographs reflections in mirrored buildings, puddles, fountains, or bodies of water.

2 . Transformation Photo Essay

With a transformation photography essay, you can tell the story about change over time. One of the most popular photostory examples, a transformation essay can document a mom-to-be’s pregnancy or a child’s growth from infancy into the toddler years. But people don’t need to be the focus of a transformation essay. You can take photos of a house that is being built or an urban area undergoing revitalization.

You can also create a photo narrative to document a short-term change. Maybe you want to capture images of your growing garden or your move from one home to another. These examples of photo essays are powerful ways of telling the story of life’s changes—both large and small.

3 . Day in the Life Photo Essay

Want a unique way to tell a person’s story? Or, perhaps you want to introduce people to a career or activity. You may want to consider a day in the life essay.

With this photostory example, your narrative focuses on a specific subject for an entire day. For example, if you are photographing a farmer, you’ll want to arrive early in the morning and shadow the farmer as he or she performs daily tasks. Capture a mix of candid shots of the farmer at work and add landscapes and still life of equipment for added context. And if you are at a farm, don’t forget to get a few shots of the animals for added character, charm, or even a dose of humor. These types of photography essay examples are great practice if you are considering pursuing photojournalism. They also help you learn and improve your candid portrait skills.

4 . Event Photo Essay

Events are happening in your local area all the time, and they can make great photo essays. With a little research, you can quickly find many events that you could photograph. There may be bake sales, fundraisers, concerts, art shows, farm markets, block parties, and other non profit event ideas . You could also focus on a personal event, such as a birthday or graduation.

At most events, your primary emphasis will be on capturing candid photos of people in action. You can also capture backgrounds or objects to set the scene. For example, at a birthday party, you’ll want to take photos of the cake and presents.

For a local or community event, you can share your photos with the event organizer. Or, you may be able to post them on social media and tag the event sponsor. This is a great way to gain recognition and build your reputation as a talented photographer.

5. Building Photo Essay

Many buildings can be a compelling subject for a photographic essay. Always make sure that you have permission to enter and photograph the building. Once you do, look for interesting shots and angles that convey the personality, purpose, and history of the building. You may also be able to photograph the comings and goings of people that visit or work in the building during the day.

Some photographers love to explore and photograph abandoned buildings. With these types of photos, you can provide a window into the past. Definitely make sure you gain permission before entering an abandoned building and take caution since some can have unsafe elements and structures.

6. Historic Site or Landmark Photo Essay

Taking a series of photos of a historic site or landmark can be a great experience. You can learn to capture the same site from different angles to help portray its character and tell its story. And you can also photograph how people visit and engage with the site or landmark. Take photos at different times of day and in varied lighting to capture all its nuances and moods.

You can also use your photographic essay to help your audience understand the history of your chosen location. For example, if you want to provide perspective on the Civil War, a visit to a battleground can be meaningful. You can also visit a site when reenactors are present to share insight on how life used to be in days gone by.

7 . Behind the Scenes Photo Essay

Another fun essay idea is taking photos “behind the scenes” at an event. Maybe you can chronicle all the work that goes into a holiday festival from the early morning set-up to the late-night teardown. Think of the lead event planner as the main character of your story and build the story about him or her.

Or, you can go backstage at a drama production. Capture photos of actors and actresses as they transform their looks with costuming and makeup. Show the lead nervously pacing in the wings before taking center stage. Focus the work of stagehands, lighting designers, and makeup artists who never see the spotlight but bring a vital role in bringing the play to life.

8. Family Photo Essay

If you enjoy photographing people, why not explore photo story ideas about families and relationships? You can focus on interactions between two family members—such as a father and a daughter—or convey a message about a family as a whole.

Sometimes these type of photo essays can be all about the fun and joy of living in a close-knit family. But sometimes they can be powerful portraits of challenging social topics. Images of a family from another country can be a meaningful photo essay on immigration. You could also create a photo essay on depression by capturing families who are coping with one member’s illness.

For these projects on difficult topics, you may want to compose a photo essay with captions. These captions can feature quotes from family members or document your own observations. Although approaching hard topics isn’t easy, these types of photos can have lasting impact and value.

9. Education Photo Essay

Opportunities for education photo essays are everywhere—from small preschools to community colleges and universities. You can seek permission to take photos at public or private schools or even focus on alternative educational paths, like homeschooling.

Your education photo essay can take many forms. For example, you can design a photo essay of an experienced teacher at a high school. Take photos of him or her in action in the classroom, show quiet moments grading papers, and capture a shared laugh between colleagues in the teacher’s lounge.

Alternatively, you can focus on a specific subject—such as science and technology. Or aim to portray a specific grade level, document activities club or sport, or portray the social environment. A photo essay on food choices in the cafeteria can be thought-provoking or even funny. There are many potential directions to pursue and many great essay examples.

While education is an excellent topic for a photo essay for students, education can be a great source of inspiration for any photographer.

Why Should You Create a Photo Essay?

Ultimately, photographers are storytellers. Think of what a photographer does during a typical photo shoot. He or she will take a series of photos that helps convey the essence of the subject—whether that is a person, location, or inanimate object. For example, a family portrait session tells the story of a family—who they are, their personalities, and the closeness of their relationship.

Learning how to make a photo essay can help you become a better storyteller—and a better photographer. You’ll cultivate key photography skills that you can carry with you no matter where your photography journey leads.

If you simply want to document life’s moments on social media, you may find that a single picture doesn’t always tell the full story. Reviewing photo essay examples and experimenting with your own essay ideas can help you choose meaningful collections of photos to share with friends and family online.

Learning how to create photo essays can also help you work towards professional photography ambitions. You’ll often find that bloggers tell photographic stories. For example, think of cooking blogs that show you each step in making a recipe. Photo essays are also a mainstay of journalism. You’ll often find photo essays examples in many media outlets—everywhere from national magazines to local community newspapers. And the best travel photographers on Instagram tell great stories with their photos, too.

With a photo essay, you can explore many moods and emotions. Some of the best photo essays tell serious stories, but some are humorous, and others aim to evoke action.

You can raise awareness with a photo essay on racism or a photo essay on poverty. A photo essay on bullying can help change the social climate for students at a school. Or, you can document a fun day at the beach or an amusement park. You have control of the themes, photographic elements, and the story you want to tell.

5 Steps to Create a Photo Essay

Every photo essay will be different, but you can use a standard process. Following these five steps will guide you through every phase of your photo essay project—from brainstorming creative essay topics to creating a photo essay to share with others.

Step 1: Choose Your Photo Essay Topics

Just about any topic you can imagine can form the foundation for a photo essay. You may choose to focus on a specific event, such as a wedding, performance, or festival. Or you may want to cover a topic over a set span of time, such as documenting a child’s first year. You could also focus on a city or natural area across the seasons to tell a story of changing activities or landscapes.

Since the best photo essays convey meaning and emotion, choose a topic of interest. Your passion for the subject matter will shine through each photograph and touch your viewer’s hearts and minds.

Step 2: Conduct Upfront Research

Much of the work in a good-quality photo essay begins before you take your first photo. It’s always a good idea to do some research on your planned topic.

Imagine you’re going to take photos of a downtown area throughout the year. You should spend some time learning the history of the area. Talk with local residents and business owners and find out about planned events. With these insights, you’ll be able to plan ahead and be prepared to take photos that reflect the area’s unique personality and lifestyles.

For any topic you choose, gather information first. This may involve internet searches, library research, interviews, or spending time observing your subject.

Step 3: Storyboard Your Ideas

After you have done some research and have a good sense of the story you want to tell, you can create a storyboard. With a storyboard, you can write or sketch out the ideal pictures you want to capture to convey your message.

You can turn your storyboard into a “shot list” that you can bring with you on site. A shot list can be especially helpful when you are at a one-time event and want to capture specific shots for your photo essay. If you’ve never created a photo essay before, start with ten shot ideas. Think of each shot as a sentence in your story. And aim to make each shot evoke specific ideas or emotions.

Step 4: Capture Images

Your storyboard and shot list will be important guides to help you make the most of each shoot. Be sure to set aside enough time to capture all the shots you need—especially if you are photographing a one-time event. And allow yourself to explore your ideas using different photography composition, perspective, and color contrast techniques.

You may need to take a hundred images or more to get ten perfect ones for your photographic essay. Or, you may find that you want to add more photos to your story and expand your picture essay concept.

Also, remember to look for special unplanned, moments that help tell your story. Sometimes, spontaneous photos that aren’t on your shot list can be full of meaning. A mix of planning and flexibility almost always yields the best results.

Step 5: Edit and Organize Photos to Tell Your Story

After capturing your images, you can work on compiling your photo story. To create your photo essay, you will need to make decisions about which images portray your themes and messages. At times, this can mean setting aside beautiful images that aren’t a perfect fit. You can use your shot list and storyboard as a guide but be open to including photos that weren’t in your original plans.

You may want to use photo editing software—such as Adobe Lightroom or Photoshop— to enhance and change photographs. With these tools, you can adjust lighting and white balance, perform color corrections, crop, or perform other edits. If you have a signature photo editing style, you may want to use Photoshop Actions or Lightroom Presets to give all your photos a consistent look and feel.

You order a photo book from one of the best photo printing websites to publish your photo story. You can add them to an album on a photo sharing site, such as Flickr or Google Photos. Also, you could focus on building a website dedicated to documenting your concepts through visual photo essays. If so, you may want to use SEO for photographers to improve your website’s ranking in search engine results. You could even publish your photo essay on social media. Another thing to consider is whether you want to include text captures or simply tell your story through photographs.

Choose the medium that feels like the best space to share your photo essay ideas and vision with your audiences. You should think of your photo essay as your own personal form of art and expression when deciding where and how to publish it.

Photo Essays Can Help You Become a Better Photographer

Whatever your photography ambitions may be, learning to take a photo essay can help you grow. Even simple essay topics can help you gain skills and stretch your photographic limits. With a photo essay, you start to think about how a series of photographs work together to tell a complete story. You’ll consider how different shots work together, explore options for perspective and composition, and change the way you look at the world.

Before you start taking photos, you should review photo essay examples. You can find interesting pictures to analyze and photo story examples online, in books, or in classic publications, like Life Magazine . Don’t forget to look at news websites for photojournalism examples to broaden your perspective. This review process will help you in brainstorming simple essay topics for your first photo story and give you ideas for the future as well.

Ideas and inspiration for photo essay topics are everywhere. You can visit a park or go out into your own backyard to pursue a photo essay on nature. Or, you can focus on the day in the life of someone you admire with a photo essay of a teacher, fireman, or community leader. Buildings, events, families, and landmarks are all great subjects for concept essay topics. If you are feeling stuck coming up with ideas for essays, just set aside a few hours to walk around your city or town and take photos. This type of photowalk can be a great source of material.

You’ll soon find that advanced planning is critical to your success. Brainstorming topics, conducting research, creating a storyboard, and outlining a shot list can help ensure you capture the photos you need to tell your story. After you’ve finished shooting, you’ll need to decide where to house your photo essay. You may need to come up with photo album title ideas, write captions, and choose the best medium and layout.

Without question, creating a photo essay can be a valuable experience for any photographer. That’s true whether you’re an amateur completing a high school assignment or a pro looking to hone new skills. You can start small with an essay on a subject you know well and then move into conquering difficult ideas. Maybe you’ll want to create a photo essay on mental illness or a photo essay on climate change. Or maybe there’s another cause that is close to your heart.

Whatever your passion, you can bring it to life with a photo essay.

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Pollution Photo Essay

Thursday, october 11, 2012.

• Photo Essay /
• Environment

What New York City looked like stifled in wildfire smoke

The pollution that enveloped the city was record-breaking wednesday, disrupting daily life in the city that never sleeps..

By Amelia Holowaty Krales and Justine Calma

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New York was eerily orange on Wednesday as smoke shrouded the city. The haze drifted in from wildfires raging in Quebec, some 500 miles away, wreaking havoc on air quality across the Northeast US.

The smoke was so thick, New York City briefly ranked as the most polluted city in the world. The Environmental Protection Agency issued its highest warning for pollution, a “Code Maroon” for hazardous air quality. The pollution was record-shattering on Wednesday, with an air quality index score of 392 around 4PM ET for fine particles beating a record of 174 set a day earlier (according to the EPA’s records, which started in 1999, The New York Times reports). 

Fine particle pollution is especially worrying because it’s small enough to enter the lungs and can even make its way into the bloodstream. Moreover, particles in smoke have been found to be up to 10 times more harmful to human health than pollution from other sources like vehicles and factories.

Officials advised people to stay indoors, emptying many streets in a way the city hadn’t seen since the height of the covid-19 pandemic. Schools called off field trips and other outdoor activities. The Federal Aviation Administration delayed flights due to poor visibility. New York City’s skyline, obscured by smoke, was barely recognizable via EarthCam . 

The Verge snapped some photos of the apocalyptic scene in the Big Apple — from amber skies to desolate streets. To stay updated, you can follow the EPA’s air quality monitoring tool AirNow . Its forecast for Thursday is still bad — not quite a Code Maroon (hopefully) but a Code Red for “unhealthy” air.

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Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism

Enduring the current — a photo essay

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BY BERNADETTE UY

Inclusive development has always been the outcry of the Filipino people but these calls usually fall onto the deaf ears of the government. Uy’s photo essay features Eduardo, a fisherman in Manila Bay, whose livelihood is just one of those that are in danger as the development plan in the bay is being pushed for implementation.

Early in the morning, the coastal community of Navotas is abuzz with small fishing boats unloading their catch. But Eduardo Dabandan, 49, lugs behind him several slabs of polystyrene foam held together by wooden sticks. For the past 10 years, this contraption has served as his main source of livelihood.

Eduardo grew up in Daram, Samar Province foraging for seashells. When he became a teenager, he went with older fisherfolk to the sea. He moved with his family to Navotas in 1997 and stayed there until 2010, when they were relocated to San Jose Del Monte in Bulacan after a fire razed their house.

Like a fish taken out of water, Eduardo found few opportunities for him in Bulacan. He offered his services as a sweeper at the relocation office. At first, the family was able to make ends meet with his P200 weekly salary. After a month, he realized it was not enough and opted to move back to Navotas to resume fishing.

Whatever money he saved, he sent to his family in Bulacan to pay for their house and other needs. His wife Maricris Dela Cruz, 45, and one of his sons later followed him to Navotas to help him earn money, while four other children stayed in Bulacan.

“Ayokong mawala yung bahay namin sa Bulacan, sayang naman. Para sa mga anak ko iyon, kaya heto tiis muna dito, nakakauwi na lang kami kapag may sobrang perang pamasahe (I don’t want to lose our home in Bulacan. It’s for my children, that’s why we persevere. We go home when there’s extra money for the fare),” Eduardo said.

He’s worried about the children, knowing that it’s different without parents around them.

When he got back to fishing in Navotas, Eduardo found a sidewalk where he could hang a hammock to rest on. Later, he and Maricris built a makeshift structure that became their temporary home. He’s worried they would be asked to move again to Bulacan with the implementation of the Manila Bay Sustainable Development Master Plan (MBSDMP), which involves reclamation. Their shack is just meters away from a backhoe being used for a reclamation project on the coast.

Eduardo is among the many fisherfolk relying on Manila Bay for their day-to-day subsistence, struggling amid the blooming commercial developments around them.

They are almost invisible to the rest of Metro Manila, whose collective memory of Manila Bay usually includes the scenic sunset, people strolling or jogging on the bay walk, and sailing boats at the yacht club. This is just a portion of the key harbor that spans eight provinces. Manila Bay is a strategic location for trade, livelihood, and other non-formal economic activities.

In 2017, the National Economic and Development Authority released the Manila Bay master plan and identified projects, programs and activities for the rehabilitation and development of the bay.

It has four “pillars”: Intercoastal Zone Management Framework, Priority Measures, Enabling Environments, and Optimizing Stakeholder Engagement. According to Rex Victor Cruz, leader of the team of experts in the Manila Bay Task Force, the master plan will fail without any one of the four pillars.

Cruz however clarified that the MBSDMP was not a “complete” plan. It provides guidance to local government units, national government agencies, and other stakeholders in charge of its implementation.

Devralin Lagos, a community worker who attended two meetings to craft strategies for the master plan in 2018, said fisherfolk needed to be consulted as their livelihoods would be affected by reclamation and other projects at Manila Bay.

“Based on my experience in Cavite and Bulacan, people are unaware of the master plan,” Lagos said. “[They should be consulted] if the project really aspires to reflect the concerns of stakeholders, not only of the development designers and government.”

Cruz said the master plan was not set in stone and could still be revised in three to five years. The Manila Bay Task Force is working on three scoping studies focused on liquid and solid waste management and preventing flooding. 

Eduardo is hopeful after buying a new outrigger that finally replaced his makeshift boat. The money came from life savings. For him and other fisherfolk in Navotas, every day is a challenge to protect and sustain their livelihoods. Rather than sink them, the master plan, Eduardo said, should help keep them afloat.

Navotas City’s coastal villages are part of the Manila Bay Sustainable Development Master Plan. Some 4,000 households depend on fishing.

Eduardo Dabandan, 49, has lived in Navotas since 1997, but had to relocate to Bulacan after a fire that razed their house in 2010. The lack of livelihood for fisherfolk in Bulacan forced him to return to Navotas. For more than a decade, Eduardo has used a makeshift boat made of polystyrene foam and sticks for fishing. It does not provide any kind of protection, but Eduardo knows how to swim and observe the environment and weather before going to the sea. 

Eduardo carries his makeshift boat as he goes out fishing with his new outrigger. Eduardo and his son Edwin will have to travel more than 30 minutes to reach their fishing spot, where they will stay overnight hoping to catch enough fish to eat and to sell. Pollution and competition with bigger vessels have made it harder to catch fish in recent years.

After 10 years of saving money, Eduardo has bought a new boat, named after his youngest son “Marby.” The maiden voyage of “Marby” the boat brings a subtle smile to Eddie’s eyes. Eddie is proud to have made both ends meet and save enough to buy a new outrigger.

Eduardo earns between P300 to P500 daily from his catch, but on a bad day, this could go down to zero. His wife Maricris Dela Cruz makes sure there’s enough money to buy food, while saving whatever they can to send to their children in Bulacan. If anything, they do not have to worry about their daily meals, because they can get what they need from the sea.

Eduardo and his family eat lunch inside their makeshift tent. In between cooking and preparing for his fishing trip later that day, what worries him is how his four children in Bulacan are coping without their parents. He smiles as he recalls how happy they were during meal time.

A backhoe used for reclamation sits idle on top of dirt. In this area alone, there are 10 families taking shelter in makeshift tents, all of them fisherfolk who depend on the sea for daily subsistence. Some families staying here are also from the relocation site in Bulacan like Eduardo’s. What they earned at the relocation site was not enough to make ends meet.

People forage for shellfish as water gets shallow during low tide along the coast of Barangay Tangos South in Navotas City. In the background, a backhoe is parked on a reclamation site. People there have been told they would need to relocate soon to give way to the development of the coast.

Fisherfolk gather krill as the sun sets. Others harvest what they can as they expect lean days ahead. According to a longtime resident, thousands of birds may be quite a sight, but is actually a bad omen to fisherfolk. The presence of these birds signifies that there will be no fish for the next couple of days. Birds flock near the shore to eat krill and fish that have surfaced because of pollution.

This story is one of the twelve photo essays produced under the Capturing Human Rights fellowship program, a seminar and mentoring project

organized by the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism and the Photojournalists’ Center of the Philippines. 

Check the other photo essays here.

Larry Monserate Piojo – “Terminal: The constant agony of commuting amid the pandemic”

Orange Omengan – “Filipinos face the mental toll of the Covid-19 pandemic”

Lauren Alimondo – “In loving memory”

Gerimara Manuel – “Pinagtatagpi-tagpi: Mother, daughter struggle between making a living and modular learning”

Pau Villanueva – “Hinubog ng panata: The vanishing spiritual traditions of Aetas of Capas, Tarlac”

Bernice Beltran – “Women’s ‘invisible work'”

Dada Grifon – “From the cause”

Bernadette Uy – “Enduring the current”

Mark Saludes – “Mission in peril”

EC Toledo – “From sea to shelf: The story before a can is sealed”

Ria Torrente – “HIV positive mother struggles through the Covid-19 pandemic”

Sharlene Festin – “Paradise lost”

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Essay on Pollution for Students and Children

500+ words essay on pollution.

Pollution is a term which even kids are aware of these days. It has become so common that almost everyone acknowledges the fact that pollution is rising continuously. The term ‘pollution’ means the manifestation of any unsolicited foreign substance in something. When we talk about pollution on earth, we refer to the contamination that is happening of the natural resources by various pollutants . All this is mainly caused by human activities which harm the environment in ways more than one. Therefore, an urgent need has arisen to tackle this issue straightaway. That is to say, pollution is damaging our earth severely and we need to realize its effects and prevent this damage. In this essay on pollution, we will see what are the effects of pollution and how to reduce it.

Effects of Pollution

Pollution affects the quality of life more than one can imagine. It works in mysterious ways, sometimes which cannot be seen by the naked eye. However, it is very much present in the environment. For instance, you might not be able to see the natural gases present in the air, but they are still there. Similarly, the pollutants which are messing up the air and increasing the levels of carbon dioxide is very dangerous for humans. Increased level of carbon dioxide will lead to global warming .

Further, the water is polluted in the name of industrial development, religious practices and more will cause a shortage of drinking water. Without water, human life is not possible. Moreover, the way waste is dumped on the land eventually ends up in the soil and turns toxic. If land pollution keeps on happening at this rate, we won’t have fertile soil to grow our crops on. Therefore, serious measures must be taken to reduce pollution to the core.

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Types of Pollution

• Air Pollution
• Water Pollution
• Soil Pollution

How to Reduce Pollution?

After learning the harmful effects of pollution, one must get on the task of preventing or reducing pollution as soon as possible. To reduce air pollution, people should take public transport or carpool to reduce vehicular smoke. While it may be hard, avoiding firecrackers at festivals and celebrations can also cut down on air and noise pollution. Above all, we must adopt the habit of recycling. All the used plastic ends up in the oceans and land, which pollutes them.

So, remember to not dispose of them off after use, rather reuse them as long as you can. We must also encourage everyone to plant more trees which will absorb the harmful gases and make the air cleaner. When talking on a bigger level, the government must limit the usage of fertilizers to maintain the soil’s fertility. In addition, industries must be banned from dumping their waste into oceans and rivers, causing water pollution.

To sum it up, all types of pollution is hazardous and comes with grave consequences. Everyone must take a step towards change ranging from individuals to the industries. As tackling this problem calls for a joint effort, so we must join hands now. Moreover, the innocent lives of animals are being lost because of such human activities. So, all of us must take a stand and become a voice for the unheard in order to make this earth pollution-free.

Get the huge list of more than 500 Essay Topics and Ideas

FAQs on Pollution

Q.1 What are the effects of pollution?

A.1 Pollution essentially affects the quality of human life. It degrades almost everything from the water we drink to the air we breathe. It damages the natural resources needed for a healthy life.

Q.2 How can one reduce pollution?

A.2 We must take individual steps to reduce pollution. People should decompose their waster mindfully, they should plant more trees. Further, one must always recycle what they can and make the earth greener.

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Photo essay: The impact of household air pollution on women’s health

While the use of lpg cylinders has increased under the pradhan mantri ujjwala yojana, too many women continue to suffer the adverse effects of burning biofuels like firewood to cook..

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According to our survey, 43 percent women in Nagpur slums still cook using solid fuels such as wood, crop wastes, charcoal, coal, dung, and kerosene in chulha s, despite having access to liquified petroleum gas (LPG) connections. This highlights that a complete transition to clean cooking alternatives has several economic and sociocultural barriers in urban slums and is a complex and multilayered problem.

Research has established that women and children are disproportionately affected by household air pollution caused by burning biomass. Savita Bhojne (32), who lives in a tin shed in Chikhli slum, has to sit in front of the fumes of a burning chulha after a long day at work as a ragpicker. For Savita this is part and parcel of her day-to-day struggle, as it is the only affordable and accessible option for her.

The skyrocketing prices of LPG cylinders mean that making a complete switch to clean fuels is a distant dream for poor households. An LPG cylinder costs more than INR 1,000 and lasts for only about a month, while firewood to last the month can be procured for INR 100–400. Some families do try to manage the high costs of LPG during most parts of the year, but in winters they have to resort to chulha s to meet the additional need of heating water.

Collecting firewood is an exercise that women have to undertake frequently in order to feed their families. Forty-nine-year-old Mayabai Shingnapure lives in Nagpur’s New Vaishali Nagar slum. She has been collecting firewood to light chulha s for many decades now. With a meagre monthly income of INR 6,000, Mayabai has no hope that her situation will change any time soon as she cannot afford the high cost of LPG.

Women and young girls spend a lot of time collecting firewood, putting themselves at grave risk while doing so as they often collect biomass from unsafe spaces such as dumping grounds. Young girls also face a large opportunity cost as they often have to prioritise collecting biomass over more productive activities such as studying.  

Burning solid fuels results in household air pollution that makes up 30–50 percent of the ambient air quality across India and kills approximately 6 lakh Indians prematurely every year, by far the most for a country, according to the Global Burden of Disease Study, 2019 . Studies have shown that the high levels of toxic pollutants from chulha s are a major contributing factor in lung cancer and cardiovascular and respiratory diseases. Inhaling this toxic smoke can result in women developing asthma, irregular menstrual cycles, and adverse pregnancy outcomes.

Cooking on a chulha is a dreaded chore for 60-year-old Rajkumari Dhurve, an Adivasi woman who lives in Siddheshwari slum. The fumes from the chulha make her eyes water, and cooking becomes a difficult and unpleasant experience as she has to sit in front of the chulha for at least two hours every day. Like Rajkumari, 65 percent of the survey respondents who use chulha s reported that they face eye irritation.

Twenty-year-old daily wager Poonam Markam is expecting her first child after she miscarried in the seventh month in an earlier pregnancy. A resident of Siddheshwari slum in Nagpur, she continues to cook on the chulha during her pregnancy and is unaware of the health impacts that this poses for herself and her unborn child. Poverty and lack of awareness about the ill effects of biomass burning put women like Poonam at a high risk of adverse pregnancy outcomes. Research suggests that constant exposure to smoke can make women more vulnerable to outcomes such as stillbirths, low birth weight, intrauterine growth retardation, and infant mortality.

Like women, children face the harmful effects of biomass burning due to their close proximity to the chulha while their mothers are cooking or heating water. Their lungs are exposed to the toxic fumes coming out of the chulha s, making them vulnerable to respiratory issues, breathlessness, and incessant coughing.

The Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY), a flagship central government scheme launched in 2016 to expand the network of LPG connections and make India smoke-free, has considerably improved LPG coverage in the country. Over nine crore connections have been distributed until January 2022. Unfortunately, while the overall coverage of LPG increased under PMUY, over 40 percent households in India still do not have access to clean cooking fuel as they cannot afford the cost of refilling their cylinders despite having an LPG connection under the scheme.

Growing costs of LPG make it unaffordable for the poor and continuing to use it means that they often have to cut costs when it comes to other household requirements. While economic hardships are a major hurdle in transitioning towards clean cooking options, societal norms also act as a barrier to exploring alternatives. Jyoti Markam (23) is a resident of Siddheshwari slum, where most households, including hers, have an LPG connection. However, Jyoti and many others continue burning biomass as their families insist on eating food cooked on chulha s because they believe that it tastes better. With men making key decisions in the household, we found that women’s health and well-being are rarely prioritised.

The link between women’s health and household air pollution needs to be recognised, and there should be a systematic investment in research and development of clean fuel alternatives. The government must identify vulnerable households from a lens of socio-economic status and health indicators to provide subsidies for LPG and other alternatives that would work for the women and reduce the family’s financial burden.

• Read this perspective on how the government can promote the use of cooking gas.
• Learn more about air pollution in India .
• Visit this link to learn more about Warrior Moms and join the movement.
• Check the air quality in your area on the Central Pollution Control Board’s National Air Quality Index or view the air quality across India here .

Nagpur, the third largest city in Maharashtra, is a major commercial and political centre of the state. Thirty-six percent of the city’s population lives in slums, where biomass burning—a major…

Sudharak Olwe has been a Mumbai-based photojournalist since 1988 and has worked as a press photographer with some of the leading newspapers in India. He is presently the Photo Editor of the country's largest read Marathi Newspaper, Lokmat. Sudharak has travelled the length and breadth of this nation and seen first-hand some incredible stories of resilience, courage and change. He has worked in tandem with many NGOs presenting their extraordinary work with both rural and urban communities. In 2016, Sudharak was conferred the Padma Shri, India’s 4th Highest Civilian Award by the President of India.

Warrior Moms is a collective of mothers from all over India fighting for children's right to breathe clean air. It does this by creating awareness on sources of air pollution and climate change, educating and empowering citizens to take action, and engaging with decision makers to enforce regulations. Its mission is to create a society where clean air, our basic human right, is accessible to all, especially children for a healthy and productive life.

If you like what you're reading and find value in our articles, please support IDR by making a donation.

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California Gov. Gavin Newsom signs laws to curb oil and gas pollution near neighborhoods

California Gov. Gavin Newsom arrives at a press conference in Los Angeles, Wednesday, Sept. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Eric Thayer)

California Gov. Gavin Newsom speaks during a press conference in Los Angeles, Wednesday, Sept. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Eric Thayer)

Pumpjacks extract oil in the Inglewood Oil Field in Los Angeles., Wednesday, Sept. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Eric Thayer)

A pumpjack extracts oil in the Inglewood Oil Field in Los Angeles., Wednesday, Sept. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Eric Thayer)

California Gov. Gavin Newsom signs a bill during a press conference in Los Angeles, Wednesday, Sept. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Eric Thayer)

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SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed laws Wednesday to reduce oil and gas pollution — the Democrat’s latest move in an ongoing battle against the fossil fuel industry and its impacts on the environment and public health.

The new laws set out to give local governments more authority to restrict oil and gas operations, close more so-called “idle wells” that aren’t in use but haven’t been properly sealed and closed, and fine companies for operating low-producing oil wells in the Inglewood Oil Field near Los Angeles. The legislation will help hold the oil industry accountable and protect communities from the impacts of pollution, Newsom said as he joined advocates and local officials at a park near the Inglewood Oil Field.

“It’s been a long journey that we’ve been on over the course of many, many years,” he said said. “But tremendous progress is being made.”

Newsom’s decision to sign the bills comes as he is fighting against the oil industry, which he called the “polluted heart of this climate crisis,” to try to pass a proposal aimed at reducing gas prices from spiking at the pump. He has tried to strengthen California’s status as a climate leader during his time as governor. His administration passed rules phasing out fossil-fuel powered lawnmowers , cars , trucks and trains . The state plans to achieve carbon neutrality , meaning it will remove as many carbon emissions from the atmosphere as it emits, by 2045.

Catherine Reheis-Boyd, president of the Western States Petroleum Association, said the laws Newsom signed Wednesday would “pile on mandates and drive up costs for Californians.”

“These new laws do nothing to produce more oil here at home and, in fact, cost jobs while forcing us to bring in more oil from overseas,” she said in a statement. “While the Governor cannot stop demonizing our industry, the truth is we prioritize community and worker safety too.”

Newsom signed a law in 2022 banning new oil and gas wells from operating within 3,200 feet (975 meters) of schools, homes, hospitals and other community sites. Then the oil industry qualified a referendum which would have asked voters whether to overturn the law in November. But they decided to pull the measure in June and said they would instead challenge the law through litigation.

One of the new laws Newsom signed requires the state to fine companies $10,000 a month for operating low-producing oil wells near the Inglewood Oil Field. The money will go into an account to fund local projects such as creating parks and affordable housing. The law requires companies to close and seal all wells at the site by Dec. 31, 2030.

“The Inglewood Oil Field is the largest urban oil field in our State.” said Assemblymember Isaac Bryan, a Democrat who represents the city and authored the bill. “Its production in recent years has been marginal, but for decades the negative health impacts surrounding it have cost the nearby community with their life expectancy.”

Austin is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues. Follow Austin on X: @sophieadanna