New York City produces twice as much trash as any other mega-city on Earth, according to a recent study. The Environmental Protection Agency has described Brooklyn's Gowanus Canal as "one of the nation’s most extensively contaminated water bodies." And air pollution, coming largely from transportation and construction, remains a threat to residents.
But before the EPA formed in 1970, pollution in NYC was even worse.
Soon after the EPA's founding, the agency dispatched 100 photographers to capture America's environmental problems in a photo project called Documerica. It shows what the US, from California to Ohio to New York, looked like from 1971 to 1977. Of the 81,000 images the photographers took, more than 20,000 photos were archived, and at least 15,000 have been digitized by the National Archives.
Many of the photos were taken before the US regulated things like water and air pollution.
The Trump administration has already rolled back a number of environmental regulations and moved toward delaying the Clean Water Rule, which clarified the Clean Water Act to prevent industries from dumping pollutants into waterways and wetlands. And last fall, EPA administrator Scott Pruitt said the Trump administration plans to eliminate the Clean Power Plan, the Obama administration's biggest initiative to fight climate change by curbing emissions.
Many reports suggest that Pruitt aims to kill environmental protections and dismantle much of the regulatory agency. If he succeeds, parts of the US could return to the state they were in before EPA regulations.
On Earth Day, let's take a look at a selection of New York City Documerica photos that were taken between 1973 and 1974.
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Many Documerica photos show scenes of general life in New York City in the 1970s, but several also document environmental issues.
In the first six months of 1973, more than 300 oil spills occurred in the New York City area. An oil slick creeps up on the Statue of Liberty in this 1973 photo.
More than 800 oil spills happened in the mid-Atlantic region during the same time period, according to a 1973 Coast Guard survey.
Source: The New York Times
Air pollution was also a huge issue in the city. As seen in this 1973 photo, smog obscures the George Washington Bridge.
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