Terribly Beautiful: The Fluid Mechanics of Industrial Pollution

An open pit pond holding slurry from hydraulic fracturing
Photo by J. Henry Fair

Time Magazine on-line April 20, 2011, had a collection of J. Henry Fair's air photos of industrial pollution. Fair is a photographer whose goal is "to make aesthetically pleasing photographs," to further his mission that "the viewer will come away with an innate understanding of [his or] her complicity [in industrial pollution] and a will to make a difference." The images are published in Fair's first book, "The Day After Tomorrow: Images of Our Earth in Crisis." Fair relies on complementary charter flights from Lighthawk and Southwings, two volunteer-based aviation organizations, to provide his photographic platform in the air.  He's documented the wastes associated with our extraction industries.  The photos in the Time article include bauxite waste from aluminum smelting, tailings from the extraction of oil from tar sands, the oil spreading from the BP Macondo well blowout, and a wastewater pool at a hydrofluoric acid plant, as well as others. All show beautiful fluid dynamics features.