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A Planet in Crisis(37 images)
The signs of Global Warming. A Documentary.
  • Fort McMurray, Alberta, CAN, 20070614: A worker walks between huge dumpsters at a Syncrude oil sand field in Fort McMurray. The traditional oil sand mining is very intrusive to the nature as it is a day mine process, requiring the top soil to be removed.<br />
A new mining process involving steam injection is less intrusive, but both processing methods release huge amounts of CO2, making the net energy gain marginal. A recent tax rise by the Alberta government have caused Canadas second largest natural gas producer to consider cancelling oil sand projects. By photographer Orjan Ellingvag
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  • Ilulissat (Jakobshavn), Pakitsup Nuna, GRL, 20070623:  A man looking at icebergs from the Sermeq Kujalleq Glacier, a.k.a. the Ilulissat Glacier.<br />
The glaciers of Greenland are melting much faster than earlier predicted. Before 2004 inland ice gave off between 50 - 100.000 cubic kilometers of melting water annualy. New figures show that this number is now up to 300.000, an increase of 400 percent. By photographer Orjan Ellingvag
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  • Ilulissat (Jakobshavn), Pakitsup Nuna, GRL, 20070622:  Chairman of the local Fisherman Union, Peter Olsen, is gathering ice for drinking water. Traditional kayaks, now used more for sporting than for hunting, left for storage in the foreground . It is easier than ever to gather ice, as the sea is filled with small ice lumps from the melting Ilulissat glacier.<br />
The ice on Greenland is melting at a record pace due to the warmer weather. The temperature on Greenland average more than 8 degrees fahrenheit warmer than ten years ago, and scientist believe that humans are to blame. By photographer Orjan Ellingvag
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  • Ilulissat (Jakobshavn), Pakitsup Nuna, GRL, 20070624:  Warmer weather has changed the lives of the people in Greenland. The temperature on Greenland is now appr. 8 degrees fahrenheit warmer than ten years ago.<br />
A traffic sign in the town of Ilulissat warning about crossing dog sleds. Dogs used to outnumber the 5000 inhabitants in Ilulissat, but they have been decimated due to lack of snow and ice - caused by the longer warm seasons. By photographer Orjan Ellingvag
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  • Ilulissat (Jakobshavn), Pakitsup Nuna, GRL, 20070624:  Cab driver Lars Thomsen is worried. He is standing next to a huge gap in the ground, caused by the thawing perma frost. - I'm worried that the ground will implode under our feet. First the rise and then the collapse, you wonder if it is safe, he says.<br />
The melting perma frost is a timebomb threatening to explode, releasing huge amounts of methane to the atmosphere. The methane is a ten times more damaging GHG (grennhouse gas) than CO2. By photographer Orjan Ellingvag
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  • Iriba, -, TCD, 20070822:  A young boy in the desert landscape surrounding the refugee camp in Touloum.<br />
The refugees have fled the atrocities in Darfur - a war on resources fueled by the Sudanese sponsoring of the Janjaweed militiamen.<br />
The Janjaweed (transl.: A man with a gun on a horse) have been pillaging Zaghawa, Masalit and Fur villages in a conflict over diminishing water and land resources. By photographer Orjan Ellingvag
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  • Iriba, -, TCD, 20070822:  Mahamoud Anja and his three wives. The war came to Mahamoud Anja (65) four years ago when a napalm bomb from a Sudanese plane killed two of his sons while they were taking their herd to a well in the Karnoy village. Knowing how the Janjaweed militiamen coordinated their attacks with the bombing raids, Mahamoud gathered the rest of his family in a hurry and fled. They now live in this refugee camp in Touloum. - I used to be rich, I had two horses and a gun. Now I only have a donkey. A donkey doesn't make a man, he says.<br />
The refugees have fled the atrocities in Darfur - a war on resources fueled by the Sudanese sponsoring of the Janjaweed militiamen.<br />
The Janjaweed (transl.: A man with a gun on a horse) is the name commonly used for the militiamen who have been pillaging Zaghawa, Masalit and Fur villages in a conflict over diminishing water and land resources. By photographer Orjan Ellingvag
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  • Iriba, -, TCD, 20070822:  Children playing on an abandoned burned out armored tank from the conflict in the Fur region between Chad Government forces controlled by President Ibriss Deby and the RDL Rebel Group. A Peace treaty, the Tripoli Agreement, was signed in December 2005, but the conflict is considered ongoing. A flareup in October 2007 occured when Janjaweed militiamen killed more than 300 in villages in eastern Chad.<br />
President Deby has critisized Sudan for supporting Chadian rebels in an effort to destabilize the country. By photographer Orjan Ellingvag
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  • Iriba, -, TCD, 20070823:  The MSF Hospital in Iriba -  measuring and handing out premix and nutrition bisquits to malnourished refugee children at the feeding programme. Kadidja (2 years) gets premix from her mom.<br />
The refugees have fled the atrocities in Darfur - a war on resources fueled by the Sudanese sponsoring of the Janjaweed militiamen.<br />
The Janjaweed (transl.: A man with a gun on a horse) have been pillaging Zaghawa, Masalit and Fur villages in a conflict over diminishing water and land resources. By photographer Orjan Ellingvag
    20070823 04...jpg
  • Iriba, -, TCD, 20070822: A woman pours tea boiled in the solar oven (right) in the Iridimi refugee camp. 8600 families in this refugee camp now use the solar oven, manufactured on site by the Chad Sun company. The oven, which is basicaly a parabol made from cardboard and aluminum foil concentrating the heat on a black painted pan inside a sealed plastic bag, is the brain child of the Swiss naturalist Horace de Saussure. When Marie Rose Neloum first saw the oven in action, she immediately saw the potential. She now runs the project in Touloum, Iridimi and in several other refugee camps.<br />
The benefit from using the oven are both obvious and also surprising. Besides being emission free it also saves the women from the risky and daunting task of gathering firewood.<br />
The increasing population of refugees in the camps have widened the radius of the area where the refugee women have to look for firewood, exposing the women to the risk of rape. By photographer Orjan Ellingvag
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  • Gite, -, TCD, 20070825: Ousman is trying to get the boat free from the grass in what used to be a vast lake. The shallow Lake Chad is shrinking dramatically, believed by some to be caused by the global warming. Other scientists are pointing to human activities such as overgrasing of the savanna as the main reason for the vanishing of the lake. By photographer Orjan Ellingvag
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  • New Dehli, Dehli, IND, 20070829: Ramjeelal (left) and his colleague are working hard to repair a broken electricity line that was cut by workers repairing another cable. Ramjeelal is sealing the makeshift repair with lead, hoping to make it water proof.<br />
The demand for comfort and luxury clashes with failing infrastructure in New Dehli. By photographer Orjan Ellingvag
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  • New Dehli, Dehli, IND, 20070828: Straphangers on a crowded bus during the rush hours in New Dehli.  <br />
The Indian carmaker Tata have a cheap car in the pipeline. By 2008 the car that cost 100.000 rupees (appr. 1800 EURO)will hit the market, making automobiles affordable for millions of Indian people. By photographer Orjan Ellingvag
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  • New Dehli, Dehli, IND, 20070827:  Tuk tuk taxis in clogged up traffic on one of the highways in New Dehli.<br />
The Indian carmaker Tata have a cheap car in the pipeline. By 2008 the car that cost 100.000 rupees (appr. 1800 EURO) will hit the market, making automobiles affordable for millions of Indian people. By photographer Orjan Ellingvag
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  • Sirajganj, Rajshahi, BGD, 20070901: Abdul Hannan and his family in the ruins of their house. The house was destroyed by the flooding in August.<br />
Bangladesh is prone to a double whammy of flooding and drought caused by the melting glaciers of Himalaya. By photographer Orjan Ellingvag
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  • Sirajganj, Rajshahi, BGD, 20070901:   Poultry farmer Mohammad Korban Ali is depressed. During a heatwave earlier in the summer one third of his chickens died from heat stroke. In August a flood drowned half of the hens that had survived the heat. - It has been a bad summer, he says.<br />
The low lying areas of Bangladesh are regularly flooded by the melting glaciers of Himalaya. They also suffer regularly from drought caused by warmer weather. With rising sea levels the farmland gets destroyed by salt water intrusion. By photographer Orjan Ellingvag
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  • Sirajganj, Rajshahi, BGD, 20070901:   A rice farmer is doing repair work on his flooded rice paddy.<br />
The low lying areas of Bangladesh are regularly flooded by the melting glaciers of Himalaya. They also suffer regularly from drought caused by warmer weather. With rising sea levels the farmland gets destroyed by salt water intrusion. By photographer Orjan Ellingvag
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  • Burigoalini, Khulna, BGD, 20070901:   Abdul Mayed has given up rice production and joined an increasing number of farmers who have started shrimping instead.<br />
Due to rising sea levels the rice paddys in the lowlands of Bangladesh are polluted by salt water intrusion, making it impossible to continue with traditional rice farming.<br />
The low lying areas of Bangladesh are regularly flooded by the melting glaciers of Himalaya. They also suffer regularly from drought caused by warmer weather. With rising sea levels the farmland gets destroyed by salt water intrusion. By photographer Orjan Ellingvag
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  • Dhaka, Dhaka, BGD, 20070903: It's getting hot, and power consuming airconditioners are only making it worse. By photographer Orjan Ellingvag
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  • Beijing, Beijing, CHN, 20070906:  Tourists taking pictures of the Temple of Heaven in a smog colored sunset.<br />
Satellite data has revealed that the city is one of the worst environmental victims of China's spectacular economic growth, which has brought with it air pollution levels that are blamed for more than 400,000 premature deaths a year. By photographer Orjan Ellingvag
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  • Linfen, Shanxi, CHN, 20070908:  Linfen is one of the most polluted cities in the world, thanks to heavy use of coal power plants.<br />
Farmer Han Fangyun is frustrated. His fields are located right next to a new coal fired plant.  Thought to be caused by the heavy air pollution, there are no bees to pollenize. Consequently most of his crops have failed. By photographer Orjan Ellingvag
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  • Zhengzhou, Henai, CHN, 20070909:  The Yellow River, Huang He, gives and takes. <br />
Jin Henin (70) has lived by the river all his life. In 1938 a flood killed several hundred thousand.<br />
Today the problem is drought and pollution. 10 percent of the river is sewage.New super cities like New City of Zhengzhou are being constructed to accommodate a fast growing population and economy. The water demand from these cities will further stress an already exhausted river. The river is already at maximum capacity of usage. By photographer Orjan Ellingvag
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  • Zhengzhou, Henai, CHN, 20070909:  The new city of Zhengzhou have 200.000 new apartments waiting for tenants, a new conference center and a fine arts center in anticipitation of a booming future. By photographer Orjan Ellingvag
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  • Zhengzhou, Henai, CHN, 20070909:  The new city of Zhengzhou have 200.000 new apartments, a new conference center and a fine arts center in anticipitation of a booming future. Construction workers putting a finishing touch on the stairs to the Arts Center. By photographer Orjan Ellingvag
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  • Ba da Ling, Beijing, CHN, 20070911: A tourist shopping for beautiful foggy images from the area surrounding the Great Wall of China.<br />
The Great Wall of China is engulfed in haze, a visual evidence of the ever more polluted air in large areas of China. By photographer Orjan Ellingvag
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