J Henry Fair's Aerial Photographs of Industrial Pollution

April 20, 2011 7:00 AM EDT

J Henry Fair’s aerial photographs of industrial pollution defy categorization by contrasting striking, often abstract, beauty with frightening realizations about the true costs of our heavily industrialized society. PowerHouse has just published some of the work in Fair’s first book, The Day After Tomorrow: Images of Our Earth in Crisis.

While his primary goal was to make aesthetically pleasing photographs, Fair aims to exploit that attractiveness for his unabashedly activist mission, explicitly stating his intention that “the viewer will come away with an innate understanding of [his or] her complicity and a will to make a difference.” The images in the book are complemented by a handful of essays written by prominent authors, scientists, and environmentalists, including climate scientist James Hansen.

Traveling from Canada down to the Gulf of Mexico, and to many locations in between, Fair relies on complementary charter flights from two volunteer-based environmental aviation organizations, Lighthawk and Southwings, to make his signature images. From their small aircraft he is able to get close enough — but not too close — to the toxic processes and wastes associated with the extraction and production of oil, gas, coal, aluminum, fertilizers, paper, refrigerants, and more.

At the end of this week, Fair’s work on fossil fuels will also be exhibited in Landscapes of Extraction: The Collateral Damage of the Fossil Fuels Industries, part of a three-day Earth Day event at Grand Central Terminal in New York City.

**Darrow, La.** Bauxite waste from aluminum smelting, including contaminants such as lead, sits in a storage impoundment. As the surface dries, it turns to dust and spreads beyond the impoundment.J Henry Fair

**Fort McMurray, Alberta, Canada** A containment pond holds tar sands tailings, consisting of a mixture of sand, water, and toxic chemicals that remain after the unrefined oil products have been extracted.J Henry Fair

**Fort McMurray, Alberta, Canada** One by-product of the tar sands upgrading process is sulphur, which has a number of industrial uses. In this picture, sulphur is being stored until its market price improves and can be sold.J Henry Fair

**Geismar, La.** Phosphate fertilizer production waste is pumped into impoundments. The solution contains sulfuric acid and a concentration of heavy metals including uranium and radium. Due to weakened legislation, fertilizer companies are not required to report these substances.J Henry Fair

**Gulf of Mexico** Wind and currents spread oil from BP's Macondo well blowout across the Gulf.J Henry Fair

**Dimock, Pa.** Hydraulic fracturing (or "fracking") to extract natural gas from shale rock deep underground yields large amounts of drilling slurry: a toxic mixture of drilling lubricants, radioactive minerals, and other toxic chemicals used or extracted in the process. J Henry Fair

**Zug Island, Mich.** A waste pit near a number of Detroit auto factories fills with a rainbow of unidentified substances.J Henry Fair

**Geismar, La.** An excavator scoops solids from a wastewater pool at a plant which produces hydrofluoric acid, a key ingredient in refrigerants and propellants. The solids are used to build up the height of the dike and therefore increase the capacity of the impoundment.J Henry Fair

**Near Kayford Mountain, West Va.** In mountaintop removal coal mining, the only "remediation" required of mining companies following the complete destruction of a mountain and the surrounding landscape is to plant grass on the surface of whatever remains. This is typically done via a process called "hydro-seeding," where a monoculture of grass seed and industrial fertilizer are sprayed over the area.J Henry Fair

Terribly Beautiful: Industrial Pollution Seen From Above

More Must-Reads from TIME