Environmentalism feels like a neglected topic in dissident circles. I've always greatly admired the beauty of nature and cleanliness in civilization. Only one of my mutuals is explicitly interested in environmentalism (Karl). I'll make a visual experience in form for you all.

America's Environmental Protection Agency was formed in 1970 through an executive order by President Richard Nixon. The agency soon started a project called ''Project Documerica'', documenting pollution and environmental concerns in 1970s United States through photography.

Over 100 photographers were recruited and they took more than 81,000 photographs. About 15,000 digital scans are available through the National Archives and Records Administration. Let's take a trip to the past and look at the aesthetics of pollution. Their own highlights first.

The George Washington Bridge in Heavy Smog. View toward the New Jersey side of the Hudson River. (New York City, May 1973)

Burning Discarded Automobile Batteries. (Houston, July 1972)

Abandoned Car in Jamaica Bay. (New York City, June 1973)

The Atlas Chemical Company Belches Smoke across Pasture Land in Foreground. (Marshall, Texas, June 1972)

Clark Avenue and Clark Avenue Bridge. Looking East from West 13th Street, Are Obscured by Smoke from Heavy Industry. (Cleveland, July 1973)

lllegal Dumping Area Off the New Jersey Turnpike, Facing Manhattan Across the Hudson River. (Jersey City, New Jersey, March 1973)

Children Play in Yard of Ruston Home, While Tacoma Smelter Stack Showers Area with Arsenic and Lead Residue. (Tacoma, Washington, August 1972)

Modern Buildings Tower over the Shanties Crowded Along the Martin Pena Canal. (San Juan, Puerto Rico, February 1973)

Smokestacks of Chemical Plant. (Corpus Christi, Texas, November 1972)

Abandoned Car Under a Palm Tree at Rincon. (Mayagüez-Aguadilla, Puerto Rico, February 1973)

Downtown Parking Lot. (Cincinnati, August 1973)

The Georgetown Gap, Through Which Raw Sewage Flows into the Potomac. Watergate Complex in the Rear. (Washington D.C., April 1973)

Trash and Old Tires Litter the Shore at the Middle Branch of Baltimore Harbor. (Baltimore, January 1973)

Approaching Logan Airport. East Boston neighborhood. (Boston, May 1973)

Hitchhiker with His Dog "Tripper" on U.S. 66. (Yuma County, Arizona, May 1972)

Sunset over Olin-Mathieson Plant (Lake Charles, Louisiana, June 1972)

Loaded Coal Cars Sit in the Rail Yards at Danville, West Virginia, near Charleston. Awaiting Shipment to Customers. (Danville, West Virginia, April 1974)

Recreational Development of Lake Travis, Texas. (Austin, circa 1972)

Subway Car. (New York City, May 1973)

Campers in Garner State Park. (San Antonio, July 1972)

Mary Workman Holds A Jar of Undrinkable Water That Comes from Her Well, and Has Filed A Damage Suit Against the Hanna Coal Company. (Steubenville, Ohio, October 1973)

Exhibit at the First Symposium on Low Pollution Power Systems Development. (Detroit, October 1973)

Young Bull Caribou Crosses Gravel Roadway near Mile 0. (Alaska, August 1973)

Day's Work Done, the Parka Squirrel Stands on the Bank and Surveys Its Domain. Franklin Bluffs in Background. (Alaska, August 1973)

These would be my picks from their highlights. I'll post the link later anyway so you can browse to your heart's content. Now, for some of their other collections.

Mary Bruno Hangs Laundry at Her Home at 39 Neptune Road, at Her Right are Frankfort Street Homes. (Boston, May 1973)

Wilder, Tennessee, in the Cumberland Mountains near Cookeville in the Eastern Part of the State (Wilder, Tennessee, April 1974)

View of Waste Materials Which Have Accumulated Around the Mine of George Wilson near Wilder and Cookeville, Tennessee (Cookeville, Tennessee, April 1974)

Household Trash Has Been Dumped in Front of the New York City Incinerator Plant at Gravesend Bay. (New York City - Brooklyn, May 1973)

Sand Covers Abandoned Car on Beach at Breezy Point South of Jamaica Bay. (New York City, May 1973)

Municipal Incineration Plant and Landfill Dump at Gravesend Bay Serves as Playground for Neighborhood Boys. (New York City, May 1973)

Channel Choked with Wastes at the Municipal Incineration Plant at Gravesend Bay. (New York City, May 1973)

Unsewered House at Hunter's Point, Adjacent to the John F Kennedy Airport. This Community Suffers from Aggravated Noise and Pollution Problems (New York City, May 1973)

Students of Rock School in Piceance Creek Area Are Planting Trees Around the School. (Rifle, Colorado, April 1973)

Ekker Butte Rises in the Crystal Air of Canyonlands National Park. (Canyonlands National Park, Utah, May 1972)

De Beque, Like Other Small Towns in the Piceance Basin, Is Barely Maintaining Itself. Departure of Small Ranchers and Failure of the Oil Shale Industry to Materialize Has Made Quasi-Ghost Towns of Many of These Communities (Rifle, Colorado, July 1973)

Mrs. Albers and Her Husband Run the One Remaining Store in Grand Valley. (Rifle, Colorado, July 1973)

Close - Up of the Moab City Dump. Along with Automobiles, the Open - Burning Practiced Here Seems to Be the Main Source of Air Pollution in the Area. (Moab, Utah, May 1972)

Aerial View Upstream of Boom Site in Monument Valley, Utah Where Oil Spill Into San Juan River Was Temporarily Contained before Flooding Caused Overflow Into Lake Powell. (Lake Powell, Utah, October 1972)

Abandoned House near Land Strip Mined by Coal Companies near the Intersection of Interstate 70 and Route #800, and Morristown, Ohio. (Morristown, Ohio, July 1974)

An Ohio Power Company Coal Shovel Works the Land Off Route 146, near Freeland, Ohio, and Steubenville. (Freeland, Ohio, October 1973)

As the Population Moves from Stripped Areas in Southeastern Ohio, Some Towns Are Slowly Abandoned. This Building, at the Intersection of Routes 9 and 519 Is for Sale. (Cadiz, Ohio, October 1973)

This Barn Was Abandoned When the Family Sold Out to the Hanna Coal Company in 1972. The Sale Left Only One Farm in the Area Off Route 800. (Barnesville, Ohio, October 1973)

Pond of Stagnant Water Remains after Stripping in an Apparent Violation of Ohio Law. Off Route 800. (Sewellsville, Ohio, October 1973)

OK, this will be resumed later today. I need some sleep.