America the polluted
In the 1970s, the newly formed EPA ambitiously documented the contaminated state of the environment


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(Image credit: (Documeria/Chester Higgins, The U.S. National Archives via Flickr)While the regularity of such catastrophes numbed many Americans into acceptance, several significant events in the 1960s bega)

(Image credit: (The U.S. National Archives, via Flickr)Grassroots environmental groups, with the help of Sen. Gaylord Nelson (D-Wis.), organized the first Earth Day — a national, and now global, demonstrati)

(Image credit: (Documerica/Gene Daniels, The U.S. National Archives, via Flickr))

(Image credit: (Documerica/Jim Pickerell, The U.S. National Archives, via Flickr))

(Image credit: (Documerica/Erik Calonius, The U.S. National Archives, via Flickr))

(Image credit: (Documerica/Frank J. Aleksandrowicz, The U.S. National Archives, via Flickr))

(Image credit: (Gary Miller/Documerica, The U.S. National Archives, via Flickr))

(Image credit: (Documerica/Marc St. Gil, The U.S. National Archives, via Flickr))

(Image credit: (Documerica/Marc St. Gil, The U.S. National Archives, via Flickr))

(Image credit: (Documerica/Marc St. Gil, The U.S. National Archives, via Flickr))

(Image credit: (Documerica/Erik Calonius, The U.S. National Archives, via Flickr))

(Image credit: (Documerica/David Hiser, The U.S. National Archives, via Flickr))

(Image credit: (Documerica/Arthur Tress, The U.S. National Archives, via Flickr))

(Image credit: (Documerica/Marc St. Gil, The U.S. National Archives, via Flickr))

(Image credit: (Documerica/Lyntha Scott Eiler, The U.S. National Archives, via Flickr))

(Image credit: (Documerica/Erik Calonius, The U.S. National Archives, via Flickr))

(Image credit: (Documerica/Charles O'Rear, The U.S. National Archives, via Flickr))

(Image credit: (Documerica/Charles O'Rear, The U.S. National Archives, via Flickr))

(Image credit: (Documerica/Marc St. Gil, The U.S. National Archives, via Flickr))
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Lauren Hansen produces The Week’s podcasts and videos and edits the photo blog, Captured. She also manages the production of the magazine's iPad app. A graduate of Kenyon College and Northwestern University, she previously worked at the BBC and Frontline. She knows a thing or two about pretty pictures and cute puppies, both of which she tweets about @mylaurenhansen.