IMAGES-VOICES-WORDS

September 18, 2014

A fourth of the world is breathing unhealthy air. In 2012 the World Health Organization estimated that air pollution was responsible for 7 million premature deaths. Over the last decade air quality has gotten worse. The 2014 Environmental Performance Index estimates that over the past decade the number of people breathing unsafe air has risen by 606 million people, totaling 1.78 billion people – That’s one-quarter of the world’s population.

Where people are suffering the worst air pollution – or breathing the cleanest air – can be seen on an interactive map by clicking here.  Take a look and see what the quality of air is where you live. When you look at this map, keep in mind that 70% of the monitoring stations are in wealthy countries. Many countries don’t have monitoring stations to measure fine particulate matter. Scientists predict that by 2030 that nearly half of the growth in urban areas will be in China and India, while urban areas in Africa will grow by 590 percent from 2000 levels! Many of the countries that are modernizing so quickly lack ground monitoring stations to communicate daily warnings of air pollution levels to their populations. Cities obviously have it worst.

Like water – see my previous post on Water – it’s important that we recognize our contributions to environmental degradation. Despite the current state of our air, there this hope. Even what we may consider the most insignificant act to keep our water and air clean means so much. Imagine if everyone just did a little to contribute to a cleaner environment, a cleaner Earth. Don’t take the water you drink, the air you breathe and the food you eat for granted. We live on a beautiful planet. My pictures in this series of posts – Water, Sky (Air), Landscape (Earth) and People, I believe, show that. Our planet nourishes and cares for us. It’s not asking too much to do just a bit each day to remain mindful and contribute to a sustainable environment for all life and future generations.

I hope you enjoy these photographs from around the United States and world featuring Sky (Air).

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Buttes blanketed in clouds near Santa Fe, New Mexico

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Storm clouds roll over a pastel landscape outside Zion National Park, Utah

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A vast sky dotted with cottony clouds and an endless road on the Kansas prairie

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Water mirrors a fluorescent sky on Lake Huron, Canada

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Another mirror for an orange and pink sunset in the Similan Islands, Thailand

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Clouds cling to a mountain top in the Cascade range, Washington State

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Wind farm near Bakersfield, California

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This is a cell phone panoramic shot of a storm over distant mountains on the road to Las Vegas

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Dense clouds sweep over flat pastures and thousands of lakes near Hibbing, Minnesota

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An approaching massive dust storm in Spin Boldak, southern Afghanistan, near the Pakistan border

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Sunset on a U.S. military base in southern Afghanistan paints the dusty earth

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Swimming on Lake Spofford in New Hampshire in the eye of Hurricane Irene in 2011

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Sunrise over the Atlantic Ocean, Itacare, Brazil

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Sunset reflects on a draw bridge on the Upper Peninsula, Michigan

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Harvest moon over a hay-field in Dummerston, Vermont

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Pockets of swirling rain wash a distant landscape in eastern New Mexico

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Cumulus clouds at sunset over prairie lands in South Dakota

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Calm after the storm in Roatan, Honduras

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Cumulus clouds and blue sky blanket St. Mary’s Lake and Glacier National Park, Montana

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A robin perches on a branch over the deep valley of Many Glacier, Glacier National Park, Montana

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Near Mesa Verde, Colorado

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A lonesome buffalo stands as a solitary sentinel in Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming

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Paragliding with my daughter near Bucaramanga, Colombia

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Coming soon: Landscape (Earth)

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All content copyrighted © Stephen Tavella