I don't know if you have the same
hobby; but sometimes I go looking places at random using "Google
Maps". At times, it is remarkable what you can find. For
instance, here is a picture of the town of Norilsk,
in Northern Siberia, that I had no idea existed; I just landed there
by chance. Look at the smoke: what the hell are they doing there?
(they also seem to have a nuclear plant, look at the upper right of
the figure).
Searching in Wikipedia, I discovered a
number of interesting things: Norilsk is a metal mining town in the
Northern area of the Krasnoyarsk region. Probably, the smoke is the
result of smelting something. Apparently, pollution generating by
smelting is a disaster, there. Wikipedia says that acidic
pollution is so bad that there is not a single tree left standing for
50 km around town: I can barely imagine what this kind of pollution does to people's lungs. I also learned that Norilsk is the only major
city completely built on permafrost. Well, they are going to have big
problems because of that!
And, a few km South of Norilsk, look at
this!
It is a gigantic open pit mine that most likely feeds the smelters in town. The
buildings look abandoned, but the mine looks still active: look at
the excavators, down in the pit.
So, did someone say Anthropocene? Yeah......
