Watch: The Documerica project was a grim but powerful look at our environmental failures

In the early days of the EPA, hundreds of photographers captured a visual record of what we were doing to the world

When the Environmental Protection Agency was created in 1970, it was not a political project. The poor condition of America’s waterways, air, and soil was so apparent that the fledgling agency had widespread bipartisan support. While the EPA began countless efforts to address the condition of the environment, one media initiative had enormous resonance: the photographs created by the Documerica project.