100 real places. 100 real problems.
FixThe.Earth is a 60-second browser game played on real satellite imagery. Nothing on the map is made up: every flare-up is a place where deforestation, pollution, fire, drought, mining or waste is damaging the environment right now. Below is the full list, grouped by what is going wrong, with a short factual summary and a link to read more. In the game you can fly to each one, see it from above, and restore it with a gesture.
Deforestation (15)Wildfires (10)River pollution (16)Ocean plastic (6)Wetland loss (7)Drying lake (7)Coral bleaching (3)Air pollution (15)Fossil fuels (9)Mining damage (8)E-waste (4)
Deforestation
- Rondônia arc of deforestationRondônia, BrazilFishbone clearing patterns along roads have removed large parts of this Amazon state's rainforest for cattle and farms.
- Borneo palm oil frontierCentral Kalimantan, IndonesiaRainforest and peatland cleared for oil palm plantations; orangutan habitat has shrunk dramatically.
- Congo Basin loggingTshopo, DR CongoThe world's second-largest rainforest is losing cover to small-scale farming, charcoal and logging roads.
- Madagascar's eastern rainforestAtsinanana, MadagascarSlash-and-burn farming has cleared most of the island's original forest, home to lemurs found nowhere else.
- Gran Chaco clearingBoquerón, ParaguayDry forest bulldozed in neat rectangles for cattle and soy; one of the fastest deforestation rates on Earth.
- Cerrado savanna conversionWestern Bahia, BrazilThe world's most biodiverse savanna is being converted to giant circular irrigated soy and cotton fields.
- Sahel desertificationZinder, NigerOvergrazing, firewood cutting and drought are turning farmland to sand along the Sahara's edge.
- Mato Grosso soy frontierSinop, Mato Grosso, BrazilBrazil's biggest soy and cattle state sits where the Amazon meets the Cerrado, and the forest has given way to a grid of fields.
- Leuser EcosystemAceh, Sumatra, IndonesiaThe last place on Earth where orangutans, tigers, elephants and rhinos share one forest is being nibbled away by palm oil and roads.
- Prey Lang forestKampong Thom, CambodiaOne of the largest lowland evergreen forests left in mainland Southeast Asia, hollowed out by illegal logging.
- Cocoa belt deforestationSoubré, Côte d'IvoireThe world's top cocoa producer has lost most of its forest, much of it to cocoa farms inside protected areas.
- Bosawás Biosphere ReserveJinotega, NicaraguaCentral America's largest protected forest is being cleared by cattle ranchers moving onto indigenous land.
- Monarch Butterfly Biosphere ReserveMichoacán, MexicoThe mountain fir forests where millions of monarchs spend the winter have been thinned by illegal logging and drought.
- Caquetá deforestation frontSan Vicente del Caguán, ColombiaAfter the 2016 peace deal, forest clearing surged in former guerrilla territory as cattle and land speculation moved in.
- Haiti's bare hillsidesCentre, HaitiCharcoal demand has stripped Haiti's hills so thoroughly that the border with the Dominican Republic is visible from space.
Wildfires
- Riau peatland firesRiau, Sumatra, IndonesiaDrained peat swamps burn for weeks each dry season, blanketing Southeast Asia in haze.
- Sierra Nevada megafiresPlumas County, California, USAHotter, drier summers and a century of fire suppression have produced record-breaking forest fires.
- Black Summer bushfire countryNew South Wales, AustraliaThe 2019–20 fires burned an area the size of a country and killed or displaced billions of animals.
- Chiquitano dry forest firesSanta Cruz, BoliviaThe world's largest tropical dry forest burned across millions of hectares in 2019 after land-clearing burns got out of control.
- Pantanal wetland firesCorumbá, Mato Grosso do Sul, BrazilAround a quarter of the world's largest tropical wetland burned in 2020 during a historic drought.
- Siberian permafrost firesSakha Republic (Yakutia), RussiaSome of the largest wildfires ever recorded burned across taiga on thawing permafrost in 2021.
- Canadian boreal megafiresChibougamau, Quebec, CanadaCanada's 2023 fire season burned a record area and sent smoke that turned New York's sky orange.
- Evia wildfiresNorthern Evia, GreeceA 2021 heatwave fire burned much of northern Evia's pine forest, destroying villages' resin and honey livelihoods.
- Pedrógão Grande fire countryLeiria, PortugalA 2017 wildfire killed 66 people on a single road, in a landscape of eucalyptus plantations and abandoned farms.
- Valparaíso megafireViña del Mar, ChileChile's deadliest wildfire tore through hillside neighbourhoods in February 2024, killing more than 130 people.
River pollution
- Citarum RiverWest Java, IndonesiaTextile factories and household waste have made this one of the most polluted rivers on Earth.
- Ganges at KanpurUttar Pradesh, IndiaTannery effluent and untreated sewage pour into a river sacred to hundreds of millions.
- Yamuna in DelhiDelhi, IndiaToxic foam floats on a stretch of river that receives most of Delhi's untreated sewage.
- Buriganga RiverDhaka, BangladeshDhaka's lifeline river turned black from tannery chemicals, dyes and sewage.
- Gulf of Mexico dead zoneMississippi River mouth, Louisiana, USAFarm fertiliser washed down the Mississippi feeds algae that strip oxygen from thousands of square kilometres of sea.
- Lake VictoriaKisumu, KenyaSewage and farm runoff fuel water hyacinth mats and algae on Africa's largest lake.
- Baltic Sea dead zonesGotland Deep, SwedenNutrient runoff has created the largest human-caused oxygen-free seabed in the world.
- Lagos LagoonLagos, NigeriaAfrica's largest city pours waste and sewage into a shallow lagoon where communities live on stilts and sand dredgers work.
- Mithi RiverMumbai, IndiaA once-seasonal stream turned into an open sewer, narrowed by construction, that flooded Mumbai catastrophically in 2005.
- Matanza-Riachuelo RiverBuenos Aires, ArgentinaAmong the most polluted rivers in the world, lined with tanneries and refineries and ordered cleaned by the Supreme Court.
- Tietê RiverSão Paulo, BrazilSouth America's largest city turned its river into a dead, foaming channel; decades of clean-up have shortened but not ended it.
- Guanabara BayRio de Janeiro, BrazilThe bay beneath Sugarloaf receives much of Rio's sewage; promises to clean it for the 2016 Olympics were not met.
- Bogotá RiverSoacha, ColombiaBogotá's sewage turns the river black before it plunges over the Tequendama Falls in clouds of foam.
- Lake BaikalBaikalsk, Irkutsk Oblast, RussiaThe world's deepest lake, holding a fifth of its unfrozen fresh water, is seeing algal mats and a toxic legacy from a pulp mill.
- Lake Erie algal bloomsToledo, Ohio, USAFarm fertiliser from the Maumee River feeds toxic green blooms that once shut off drinking water for 400,000 people.
- Murray–Darling fish killsMenindee, New South Wales, AustraliaMillions of fish have died in the Darling River at Menindee during droughts and algal blooms, as upstream irrigators take the water.
Ocean plastic
- Pasig River and Manila BayMetro Manila, PhilippinesOne of the largest river sources of plastic reaching the ocean, feeding a bay once declared dead.
- Great Pacific Garbage PatchNorth Pacific OceanA gyre of floating plastic estimated at over 1.6 million km², most of it fishing gear and fragments.
- Mediterranean plasticLigurian Sea, ItalyA nearly enclosed sea with some of the highest microplastic concentrations recorded.
- Yangtze estuaryShanghai, ChinaAsia's longest river carries huge loads of plastic and nutrients to the sea, and its finless porpoise is critically endangered.
- Chao Phraya RiverBangkok, ThailandBangkok's river funnels the capital's plastic and sewage into the Gulf of Thailand.
- Midway AtollNorthwestern Hawaiian Islands, USAAlbatross chicks on this remote atoll die with stomachs full of bottle caps and lighters carried in from the Pacific gyre.
Wetland loss
- Sundarbans mangrovesKhulna, BangladeshThe world's largest mangrove forest faces rising seas, shrimp farming and oil-tanker traffic.
- Florida EvergladesFlorida, USACanals and farms drained half of the 'river of grass'; a decades-long restoration is rebuilding its flow.
- Mekong DeltaCần Thơ, VietnamVietnam's rice bowl is sinking and shrinking as dams trap sediment, sand is dredged away and salt water pushes inland.
- Nile Delta coastRosetta, EgyptStarved of sediment by the Aswan Dam, the delta is eroding and sinking while plastic from the Nile reaches the Mediterranean.
- Mesopotamian MarshesDhi Qar, IraqThe vast marshes of southern Iraq were drained to a tenth of their size, partly revived, and are now drying again behind upstream dams.
- Doñana wetlandsHuelva, SpainEurope's most important wetland for migratory birds is drying as strawberry farms pump its aquifer, many of them from illegal wells.
- Tonlé Sap lakeSiem Reap, CambodiaSoutheast Asia's largest lake swells and shrinks with the Mekong each year, but dams and drought are weakening the pulse that feeds its fishery.
Drying lake
- Aral SeaKarakalpakstan, UzbekistanOnce the world's fourth-largest lake, drained for cotton irrigation until ships lay stranded in desert.
- Lake ChadChad / Nigeria / Niger / CameroonThe lake has lost around 90% of its surface since the 1960s, undermining 30 million people's livelihoods.
- Lake UrmiaWest Azerbaijan, IranA giant salt lake that turned blood-red as it shrank; dams and wells cut off the water that fed it.
- Dead SeaJordan / Israel / West BankThe water level drops about a metre a year as the Jordan River is diverted, opening thousands of sinkholes.
- Salton SeaImperial County, California, USAAn accidental desert lake is drying up, exposing pesticide-laden dust that blows into nearby towns with high asthma rates.
- Great Salt LakeUtah, USAThe largest saltwater lake in the Western Hemisphere hit a record low in 2022, exposing a lakebed laced with arsenic.
- Lake PoopóOruro, BoliviaBolivia's second-largest lake was declared evaporated in 2015, ending the fishing life of the Uru people on its shores.
Coral bleaching
- Great Barrier Reef bleachingQueensland, AustraliaMarine heatwaves have bleached the reef repeatedly since 2016, killing coral across vast stretches.
- Coral Triangle reefsRaja Ampat, IndonesiaThe richest reefs on the planet face warming seas, blast fishing and plastic.
- Maldives reef bleachingNorth Malé Atoll, MaldivesMarine heatwaves in 1998, 2016 and 2024 bleached most of the reefs that the islands are literally built from.
Air pollution
- Delhi winter smogDelhi NCR, IndiaCrop-stubble burning, traffic and winter inversions push particulate levels far past safe limits.
- Lahore smog seasonPunjab, PakistanRegularly ranked among the most polluted cities in the world during winter.
- Beijing–Hebei air basinBeijing, ChinaOnce infamous for 'airpocalypse' smog from coal; a decade of controls has cut particulates sharply.
- Ulaanbaatar ger-district smokeUlaanbaatar, MongoliaRaw coal burned to heat tens of thousands of gers makes winter air among the worst anywhere.
- Mexico City smogValle de México, MexicoA megacity in a high mountain bowl where ozone and particulates get trapped over 20 million people.
- Cairo's black cloudCairo, EgyptRice-straw burning, traffic and desert dust produce an autumn 'black cloud' over the Nile Delta.
- Santiago winter inversionsSantiago, ChileWood-burning stoves and traffic trapped against the Andes trigger frequent pollution alerts.
- NorilskKrasnoyarsk Krai, RussiaAn Arctic nickel-smelting city so polluted that dead forest surrounds it, and a 2020 fuel spill turned its river red.
- Chiang Mai burning seasonChiang Mai, ThailandEvery spring, farm and forest burning fills the valley with smoke until the city ranks among the most polluted on Earth.
- Kathmandu Valley smogKathmandu, NepalBrick kilns, old vehicles and dust hang in a bowl-shaped valley that regularly ranks among the most polluted capitals.
- Tehran smogTehran, IranA city of nine million pressed against the Alborz mountains, where winter inversions trap exhaust and close schools for days.
- Bishkek winter smokeBishkek, KyrgyzstanCoal burned in homes and an ageing power plant make winter air in the Kyrgyz capital among the worst in the world.
- Kraków coal smogKraków, PolandPoland's historic capital choked on smoke from household coal stoves until it became the first Polish city to ban them.
- Sarajevo valley smogSarajevo, Bosnia and HerzegovinaCoal and wood heating under a winter inversion give this mountain-valley capital some of Europe's dirtiest air.
- Cancer AlleySt. James Parish, Louisiana, USAA 140 km stretch of the Mississippi lined with some 150 petrochemical plants, where mostly Black communities face elevated cancer risk.
Fossil fuels
- Niger Delta oil spillsOgoniland, NigeriaDecades of oil spills have coated mangroves and creeks in crude, poisoning fishing communities.
- Jharia coalfield firesJharkhand, IndiaUnderground coal seams have burned for over a century beneath a town of hundreds of thousands.
- Athabasca oil sandsAlberta, CanadaBoreal forest stripped for open-pit bitumen mines and vast toxic tailings ponds visible from space.
- Rhineland lignite minesNorth Rhine-Westphalia, GermanyEurope's largest open-pit mines dig brown coal, the dirtiest fossil fuel, swallowing forests and villages.
- Lake MaracaiboZulia, VenezuelaThousands of kilometres of ageing oil pipelines leak into one of South America's largest lakes, which also blooms green with algae.
- Mpumalanga coal belteMalahleni, Mpumalanga, South AfricaA cluster of a dozen coal power stations creates one of the world's largest nitrogen-dioxide hotspots visible from space.
- Singrauli energy hubMadhya Pradesh / Uttar Pradesh, IndiaIndia's 'energy capital' packs coal mines, power plants and fly-ash ponds into one district, with mercury in the water and dust in the air.
- Bełchatów power stationŁódź Voivodeship, PolandEurope's largest coal power plant and the EU's single biggest CO2 emitter, fed by a lignite pit over 300 m deep.
- Permian Basin flaringMidland, Texas, USAThe largest oilfield in the United States leaks and flares so much methane that its gas plumes are mapped from orbit.
Mining damage
- Kabwe lead contaminationCentral Province, ZambiaA former lead mine left a town where children's blood-lead levels are among the highest ever recorded.
- Madre de Dios gold miningMadre de Dios, PeruIllegal gold mining has turned Amazon rainforest into lunar craters of sand and mercury-laced ponds.
- Ok Tedi mineWestern Province, Papua New GuineaA copper mine dumped tailings straight into the river system, smothering forest along hundreds of kilometres.
- Grasberg mine tailingsMimika, Central Papua, IndonesiaOne of the world's largest gold and copper mines discharges its tailings into a river system that flows to the sea.
- Rio Doce tailings disasterMariana, Minas Gerais, BrazilA collapsed iron-ore tailings dam sent a wave of mud 650 km down the Rio Doce to the Atlantic in 2015.
- Baotou rare-earth tailings lakeInner Mongolia, ChinaThe sludge left over from refining the world's rare-earth metals fills a toxic artificial lake about 10 km² in size.
- Appalachian mountaintop removalBoone County, West Virginia, USACoal companies have blasted the tops off hundreds of mountains and buried thousands of kilometres of streams with the rubble.
- Cerro de PascoPasco, PeruAn open-pit mine has swallowed the centre of a city 4,300 m up in the Andes, leaving children with high lead levels.
E-waste
- Agbogbloshie scrapyardAccra, GhanaDiscarded electronics from richer countries were burned here to recover copper, poisoning air and soil.
- Dandora dumpsiteNairobi, KenyaOne of Africa's largest open dumps, declared full in 2001 and still receiving Nairobi's waste, smoulders beside homes and schools.
- Bantar Gebang landfillBekasi, IndonesiaJakarta's rubbish mountain, one of the largest landfills in the world, receives around 7,000 tonnes of waste a day.
- Guiyu e-waste townGuangdong, ChinaOnce the world's largest electronic-waste dismantling site, where acid baths and open burning left children with high lead levels.