April 22 will mark Earth Day worldwide, an event now in its 42nd year and observed in 175 countries. The original grass-roots environmental action helped spur the Clean Water Act and Clean Air Act in the United States. Gathered here are images of our planet's environment, efforts to utilize renewable alternative sources of energy, and the effects of different forms of pollution. -- Lane Turner and Leanne Burden Seidel (35 photos total)
A ladybug in flight spreads its wings as it flutters from grass blade to grass blade at Rooks Park in Walla Walla, Wash. on April 2, 2012. (Jeff Horner/Walla Walla Union-Bulletin/Associated Press)
- Afghanistan
- afghanistan africa
- Africa
- Amir Cohen
- Andre Borschberg
- Andre Kuipers
- Antarctica
- Antonio Parrinello
- Atacama desert
- Australia
- Ballona Creek
- Beijing
- Belarus
- Borneo Island
- Bosnia
- Boston Globe
- Brehec bay
- Brendon O'Hagan
- burial site
- Calama
- California
- Calipatria
- cellular telephone
- Charlestown
- Cheryl Ravelo
- Chile
- China
- China Central Television
- Cleveland
- Cleveland State University
- Clifford Goudey
- Cuzco
- David Loh
- David McNew
- Delhi
- Democratic Republic of Congo
- Dina Rudick
- Earth Day
- easter
- ED JONES
- electric utilities
- electricity
- energy
- energy-saving technologies
- energy-saving technologies
- engineering technology
- enormous energy crisis
- Environment
- ESA
- Farooq Naeem
- France
- Fred Tanneau
- Fuentes de Andalucia
- gas mask
- gas masks
- geothermal energy plant
- Germany
- Getty Images
- Getty Images
- Glarus
- Gwenn Duborthomieu
- Halliberu
- holy week
- Ibi
- illegal oil refinery
- India
- Indonesia
- iPhone
- Israel
- Italy
- Japan
- Jeff Horner
- Jeff Horner/Walla Walla Union
- Jian River
- Jigokudani valley
- Josh Reynolds
- Karen Gleason
- Kawasaki City
- Kenya
- Lane Turner
- Leanne Burden Seidel
- Leonardo Bravo
- Lisa Poole
- Los Angeles
- Los Angeles Times
- Luoyang
- M.I.T
- Majid Rashidi
- Manila
- Manila Bay
- Marcelo del Pozo
- Mariana Bazo
- Martin Bernetti
- Massachusetts
- Mexico City
- Mount Etna
- Mount Vrenelisgaertli
- Murree
- Nagano Prefecture
- National Aeronautics and Space Administration
- Negev desert
- New Delhi
- New Zealand
- New Zealand reef
- Newburyport
- Nigeria
- North Korea
- NY Times Co.
- Octavia Ccahuata
- Pakistan
- Peru
- Plouezec
- Ramon Crater
- religion science society sports technology
- religion science society sports technology
- river Yamuna
- Sajjad Hussain
- Salton Sea
- Sampit
- Sarawak
- Savichi
- Shanghang
- Sicily
- Sicily
- Singapore
- so-called microgrids
- solar car race
- Solar Impulse
- Spain
- Stock photography
- the Boston Globe
- Toby Melville
- Tokyo Electric Power Co
- TONY KARUMBA
- U.S. Embassy
- United Nations
- United States
- Vasily Fedosenko
- Waihi Beach
- Walla Walla
- Washington
- water network
- wave energy converter prototype
- Wind Blade Testing Center
- Yamuna river
- Your Town
- Yusuf Ahmad
Tomorrow, March 22, is World Water Day, an event established by the United Nations in 1993 to highlight the challenges associated with this precious resource. Each year has a theme, and this year's is "Water and Food Security." The UN estimates that more than one in six people worldwide lack access to 20-50 liters (5-13 gallons) of safe freshwater a day to ensure their basic needs for drinking, cooking, and cleaning. And as the world's population grows beyond 7 billion, clean water is growing scarcer in densely populated areas as well as in remote villages. Collected here are recent images showing water in our lives -- how we use it, abuse it, and depend on it. [36 photos]
A journalist takes a sample of polluted red water from the Jianhe River in Luoyang, Henan province, China, on December 13, 2011. According to local media, the sources of the pollution were two illegal chemical plants discharging their production wastewater into the rain sewer pipes. (Reuters/China Daily)
- Agartala
- Ahmedabad
- America
- Ammar Awad
- Andres Arce
- Argentina
- Australia
- Balazs Mohai
- baptismal site
- Bay of Pigs
- Beijing
- Ben Bernanke Saved
- Benjamin Fearnow
- Bosnia
- Brazil
- Bucharest
- Budapest
- Cameron Spencer
- Canberra
- Cancun
- Cheryl Ravelo
- China
- China Daily
- Chinacota
- Colombia
- copper-mining residues years
- crude oil
- Cuba
- Cucuta
- Damien Ma
- Daniel Fromson
- Daniel Mihailescu
- David A. Graham
- David Ewing Duncan
- David Gray
- Denis Sinyakov
- Derby
- Derek Thompson
- El Calafate
- electricity
- Emily Richmond
- Environment
- Equatorial Guinea
- Evans City
- Felipe Calderon
- Felipe Dana
- Geamana
- Getty Images
- Getty Images
- Guangxi
- Hannah Johnston
- Havana
- Henan
- Honghu
- Hubei Province
- Hungary
- illegal chemical plants
- illegal oil refining site
- Imo River
- India
- Isla Mujeres
- Jablanicko lake
- Jason de Caires Taylor
- Jian River
- Jianhe River
- Jordan River
- Jordan Weissmann
- Jorge Silva
- Kasia Cieplak-Mayr von Baldegg
- Keith Srakocic
- Khartoum
- Kimberlie McEvoy
- Lake Burley Griffin
- Latin America
- Laura McKenna
- Local media
- London
- Luoyang
- machinery
- Mad Men
- Madonna
- Madrid
- Malabo
- Manila
- Manila Bay
- Manuel Hernandez
- Marbella
- Marco Ugarte
- Mario Tama
- Marion Nestle
- Mark Bowden
- Mark Ralston
- Matthew O'Brien
- Maura Kelly
- Megan Garber
- Mexico
- Mexico City
- Michael McAteer
- Mickey Woods
- Mijas
- Mississippi
- Molly Ball
- Moscow
- MTI
- Mumbai
- natural gas drilling
- Neijing River
- Neretva River
- New Zealand
- Nigeria
- Nuevo Leon
- Nuevo Leon
- oil
- oil hub city
- oil spill
- Pablo Sanchez
- Pennsylvania
- Perito Moreno glacier
- Philippines
- Pierre-Philippe Marcou
- Port Harcourt
- Qingdao
- Reading
- Rebecca Blackwell
- Rebecca J. Rosen
- Republican Party
- Reuters
- Rex Energy Corp.
- Rick Santorum
- Rio de Janeiro
- Rock in Rio
- Roger Lowenstein
- Romania
- Royal Dutch Shell
- Sam Panthaky
- Santa Cruz
- Sergio Torres
- Shandong
- South China river
- Spain
- Spencer Kornhaber
- Sudan
- Tauranga
- Thames River
- the Rock in Rio
- Tiberias
- toxic metal
- Traian Basescu
- United Nations
- wastewater treatment
- Water
- World Water Day
- Xinhua News Agency
- Yazoo City
- Yazoo river
- Zhejiang