We live in a wasteful society. Don’t try and deny it, you know it’s true. Whether you want to believe it or not — our wastefulness directly affects our environment and EVERYONE in it. At the end of the day, everyone is responsible for what’s happening to our planet, too. It’s easy to see somebody blatantly throw trash out the car window or onto the sidewalk, or to waste clean water needlessly, but almost every action we do (or do not do) has some impact on the environment, and with billions of people, even the smallest things can add up.

While some of us may never face the immediate consequences of our actions and inactions or see the damages our footprint has on the Earth, we can assure you that living in polluted environments is other people’s reality every day of their lives. There is so much we take for granted without ever realizing.

We’ve rounded up some of the most shocking examples of the direct effects of pollution on wildlife and people that we could find, in the hopes that maybe we can all begin to take the steps towards a cleaner planet. After all, it is the only one we’ve got…

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