Humans have been damaging the environment and the flora and fauna of this planet at a very rapid rate for the past few centuries. With the advent of industrialization and invention of more and more polluting power sources, the quest of man for a better life is taking a toll on the environment of the planet. Animals, birds, aqua flora and fauna are all affected badly by our actions and events like global warming are threatening the very existence of humans on Earth.
The following 10 heartbreaking pictures show perfectly the way we have laid waste to our planet which has given us everything from shelter to food to life itself. If we don’t stop now and take steps in saving the Earth, we may lose everything in the coming 100 years.
The plastic ring stuck to this turtle’s stomach prevented the waist from growing, as the turtle grew. It is pretty common to see turtles and tortoises getting stuck in the waste that is dumped in the sea purely due to carelessness of humans.
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This is one of the most heartbreaking pictures in which the insides of an albatross are seen. You can actually see bottle caps, plastic caps and many more plastic items in its abdomen. It clearly died of excess plastic ingestion, which was not digested by its system and ultimately killed the bird. When you throw out things like that without recycling them, you are not cleaning your houses, but you are killing innocent animals.
Image Source: www.ecowatch.com
Oil spills in the oceans have been one of the biggest reasons of pollution and loss of precious flora and fauna in even the most distant places on the planet. In the greed to extract more and more oil from the Earth, humans have dug holes in the sea and any accident means millions of tons of oil spilling into the sea, covering it and killing everything in the sea and everything dependent on the seas and oceans like these unfortunate penguins.
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Apart from global warming, the threat of water shortage due to excessive use of water, wastage of water and irregular rains have caused scenes like you see in the picture. It shows a child drinking from a stream which is full of trash in the Yunan Province in China. We need to stop wasting water and conserve it or else it would cost you premium in future to even drink a glass of water.
Image Source: www.wisance.com
Another sad example of us dumping plastic waste into the sea to get rid of it and not thinking a bit about the animals dependent on the sea and living in it. This seal has a plastic wire tightening around its neck, slowly cutting his throat and killing it, centimeter by centimeter.
Image Source: www.wisance.com
China, especially its capital Beijing is considered to be one of the most polluted cities and countries of the world. The industrialization boom caused millions of factories to grow like shrooms and pollute the air of Beijing. Now breathing the air in Beijing is like inhaling the smoke from 10 cigarettes at once.
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This is a cat sitting on a pile of trash in the Wetsahara beach of Morocco. This shows the apathy we have towards our environment generally. We think that it is the responsibility of the governments to clean up after us, but this is something that should be taught to kids from kindergarten onwards, how to keep your house and surroundings clean. Only then they will become responsible citizens.
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Third world countries are fast becoming a dump site for millions and trillions of tons of computer wastes from much privileged countries. This waste is extremely toxic, thanks to the materials used in them and handling them is a specialty affair which not all can do and is expensive. But dumping waste in third world is less costly, only cost, the damage to the environment and the ecosystem of that nation.
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India is a country of extreme religion and spiritualism. A country which has many rituals and things related to water, something that most of the Indians consider sacred, yet do not think twice about polluting it in many ways. Most common ways of polluting rivers in India is dumping waste and plastic in them. You can see a boy swimming in a river filled with garlands and plastic bags, surely a river flowing through a religious place in India.
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The image is from the Indian city of Mumbai, which is known as the city of dreams. Thousands of people from all over the country come to Mumbai everyday looking to accomplish their ‘Indian dream’ of making lots of money or making it big in the Bollywood film industry. This has led to over population in the city, turning every available land into a livable place and every stream or river into a drainage system.
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