Sometimes every word is superfluous. These pictures say more than a thousand words.

1. The view over the overdeveloped metropole of Mexico City (with more than 20 million inhabitants).

Pablo Lopez Luz

2. An elephant killed by poachers left to rot.

Kristian Schmidt/Wild Aid

3. Trails of excessive air traffic over London.

Ian Wylie

4. A massive truck delivers a load of oil sands for processing. Oil sand is considered the energy source of the future.

Garth Lentz

5. A simple herd farmer cannot withstand the stink of the Yellow River in Inner Mongolia.

Lu Guang

6. A waste incineration plant and its surroundings in Bangladesh

M.R. Hasasn

7. A fire storm plows through Colorado – increased incidences of wild fires is a result of climate change.

R.J. Sangosti/Denver Post

8. The scars left behind from the mining of oil sands in the Canadian province of Alberta.

Garth Lentz

9. A nighttime spectacle in downtown Los Angeles – the energy demand is incalculable.

Mike Hedge

10. In Oregon, this thousand year old forest fell victim to the chain saw for a new dam.

Daniel Dancer

11. The area around Almeria in Spain is littered with greenhouses as far as the eye can see – simply for a richly filled dinner table.

Yann Arthus Bertrand

12. Poachers pose proudly with the coat of a Siberian tiger.

Steve Morgan/Photofusion

13. The Mir Mine in Russia, the largest diamond mine in the world.

Google Earth/ 2014 Digital Globe

14. A dead albatross shows what happens when we litter. A living dumpster.

Chris Jordan

15. And yet another megatropolis – a bird’s eye view of New Delhi (over 22 million inhabitants).

Google Earth/2014 Digital Globe

16. Paradise almost lost: the Maldives, a popular vacation spot that is threatened by rising sea levels.

Peter Essick

17. The beginning of Black Friday at an electronics store in Boise, Idaho.

Darin Oswald/Idaho Statesman

18. Tons (literally) of broken electronics end up in developing countries and are stripped for precious metals by using deadly substances.

Peter Essick

19. The blunder of the Brazilian rain forest is being repeated here in Canada.

Garth Lentz

20. A landfill for worn-out tires in the desert of Nevada.

Daniel Dancer

21. While the entire world watched the events of Fukushima, a massive heat and power station was burning just a few miles away. All attempts to extinguish it where fruitless.

Mainichi Newspapers/AFLO

22. This polar bear starved to death in Svalvard, Norway. Disappearing ice caps are robbing polar bears of both their living space and food.

Ashley Cooper

23. To the last drop: an oilfield in California and the merciless overexploitation of humans.

Mark Gamba/Corbis

24. A massive waterfall from melting pack ice. These masses are the only meltwater and the undeniable proof how swiftly climate change is advancing.

Cotton Coulson/Keenpress

25. The Indonesian surfer Dede Surinaya rides a wave of filth and trash (Java, Indonesia).

Zak Noyle

“When the Last Tree Is Cut Down, the Last Fish Eaten, and the Last Stream Poisoned, You Will Realize That You Cannot Eat Money.”

This prophecy is becoming a more and more brutal reality. But, even today, not every person is aware of the horrible effects our lifestyles have on nature. So share these evocative pictures with everyone. – hefty