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Добавлено: 27 Март, 2008 19:19 Заголовок сообщения: Soviet Pollution by photograph Gerd Ludwig
LETHAL LEGACY : POLLUTION IN THE FORMER USSR
In their ruthless drive to exploit their nation, Soviet leaders gave little thought to the health of their people or the lands that they ruled. No country is free from the scourge of pollution, but the Soviet example is one of horrifying extremes, one that stems from decades of neglect and the abuse of a vast and once beautiful land.
From Vilnius to Vladivostok, a beleaguered environment bears witness to a legacy of irresponsibility: the rivers of the former U.S.S.R. are open sewers of human and chemical waste; the Aral sea is drying up; in many Soviet c cities the air is so polluted that it puts millions at risk of respiratory diseases. Tons of nuclear waste is spread out all over the country and toxic chemicals have poisoned the soil.
Images of the bald children of Chernobyl and the limbless children
of Moscow disclose a deeply disturbing truth: birth defects and infant mortality — not just in the vicinity of a major atomic catastrophe, but even in the ailing empire's once proud capital — strike the peoples of this land at twice the rate found in the industrial nations of the West.
In pursuit of documenting this universe of pollution that comprises one-sixth of the world’s landmass, I spent 5 months on assignments for National Geographic Magazine. The result is an impressive, yet often appalling set of photographs that can serve as a lesson to us all.
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Camels cross the dry bed of the Aral Sea. Irrigation tapping into the lake’s feeder rivers has shrunk its size and created this graveyard of rusting shipwrecks, where a beautiful bay once glistened.
Aral Sea, Kazakhstan
A gloss of oil and chemicals sheens standing water in an oil field near Baku. Runoff from the fields has rendered local streams, lakes and ponds biologically dead.
Baku, Azerbaijan
Hospital staff cares for an infant plagued by immune deficiencies. An hour after this picture was taken the patient died. Pollution from chemical plants has afflicted the immune systems of many inhabitants.
Sumgayit, Azerbaijan
Nuclear fallout from the Semey test site has resulted in a plague of birth defects. Now 13, this boy, who actually lives on the test site, was born blind and disfigured.
Semey, Kazakhstan
Homey décor does little to ease young fears at a medical diagnostic center. Area residents suffer nightmarishly high rates of cancer and other diseases linked to fallout from nuclear tests.
Semey, Kazakhstan
These children, all from two city neighborhoods, were born with missing forearms. Many scientists suspect their congenital deformities to be caused by Moscow’s bewildering mix of pollutants.
Moscow, Russia
In winter, men drill fishing holes in the ice of the Ural River. Knowing that the river is badly polluted by the Steel Works looming behind them, they often sell their catch to markets rather than consume it themselves.
Magnitogorsk, Russia
Children play in the inky pools of runoff from leaky oil pumps. Azerbaijan’s fields lost prominence when oil exploration shifted to Siberia in the 1960s.
Baku, Azerbaijan
A river of liquid slag lights the arctic night, the spectacular sight belying the damage done by the refuse from nickel and copper smelters.
Norilsk, Russia
Heavy smoking only increases the risk of lung cancer and other bronchial diseases among miners, whose jobs ensure a daily dose of coal dust.
Donetsk, Ukraine
Smoke from the KMK steel plant belches carbon monoxide above this Siberian city. By the early 1990s, pollution had cursed 35 million Russians with unhealthy air.
Novokuznetsk, Russia
Workers take welcome breaths after a shift in the dust-filled confines of their cement plant. Exposure to the pollution leaves them exhausted at day’s end.
Kunda, Estonia
Мы забытое поколение, которое любит "пихать кнопки компа, жрать чипсы и пить пиво на тусовках"(С) Neaxion
"Человек - это часть целого, которое мы называем Вселенной, часть, ограниченная во времени и в пространстве"(C) Альберт Эйнштейн И не сомкнуть кольцо седых холмов, И узок путь по лезвию дождя, И не ищи - ты не найдешь следов, Что Воин Вереска оставил, уходя.
Воин Вереска(C)Хэлависа группа Мельница
Последний раз редактировалось: Darkman (27 Март, 2008 19:29), всего редактировалось 1 раз
Мы забытое поколение, которое любит "пихать кнопки компа, жрать чипсы и пить пиво на тусовках"(С) Neaxion
"Человек - это часть целого, которое мы называем Вселенной, часть, ограниченная во времени и в пространстве"(C) Альберт Эйнштейн И не сомкнуть кольцо седых холмов, И узок путь по лезвию дождя, И не ищи - ты не найдешь следов, Что Воин Вереска оставил, уходя.
Воин Вереска(C)Хэлависа группа Мельница
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