From oil spills to overflowing landfills, man’s unsustainable quest to live a better life with little regard for the environment has caused a staggering amount of environmental disasters to be formed. At present, pollution is labeled to be the #1 killer, affecting more than 100 million worldwide.

And that’s not all… More than 1 million seabirds and 100 million mammals are killed by pollution every year.

Obviously change is needed – but what can inspire people to live more sustainably and limit their carbon footprint than startling statistics? Possibly the photos shown below, which in their heartbreaking real-ness, expose the truth of what is happening across the globe.

Following are 20+ shocking photos which capture man-made disasters and their effect on the environment. If these photos don’t inspire you to collect trash when you see it, it’s time to wake up.

1. A Tortoise Trapped In Plastic

2. Homeless Koala

3. Trapped In Plastic, This Turtle’s Waist Couldn’t Grow

4. Bird In Oil Spill

Albatross Killed By Excess Plastic Ingestion (North Pacific)

5. A Stork Trapped In Plastic

6. A Wounded Seal Unsafe In Its Own Habitat

7. Oiled Penguins

8. Surfing A Wave Full Of Trash (Java, Indonesia – The World’s Most Populated Island)

9. Plastic Diver

Every Morning This Kid Searches Through Discarded Trash For Recyclable Plastic That Can Be Sold For 35 Cents Per Kilo To Help His Family.

10. Seal’s Nose Trapped In Plastic Waste

11. Bird In Oil Spill

12. Boy Swimming In Polluted Water In India

13. A Child Drinks Polluted Water From A Stream In Fuyuan County, Yunnan Province

14. Mexico City Landscape, 20 Million Inhabitants

15. Turtle Population Killed By Chemicals In Environment (Tunisia)

16. Bangladesh Landscape Filled With Trash

17. A Mute Swan Builds A Nest Using Plastic Garbage

18. Landfill In Acra (Ghana)

First-world trash usually ends up in third-world countries’ landfills.

19. Frog In Polluted Water

20. This Crab Lives In An Old Bottle

21. Plastic Bag Floating In The Sea Off The Philippines

Young Raccoon With Fishing Lure In His Lip

22. Pollution In A ‘Dry River’ In Bali

When rains come, all this garbage gets washed out to sea.

23. Cat Sunning In Trash (Wetsahara, Morocco)

24. A River In The Suburbs Of Mumbai

25. Open Dumping In The Streets Of New Delhi, India

26. Trash Washed Out To Sea… (Mekong, Laos)

27. Beijing In A Cloud Of Smog

If you haven’t already, check out the post “These 14 Photos Capture How Polluted China Has Become – And It’s Terrifying!” for more inspiration to start recycling today.

A little bit goes a long way. Picking up a piece of trash when you see it, initiating a recycling program in your town, or lovingly educating others on the benefits of not littering will slowly but surely help to progress the collective consciousness.

What are your thoughts? Share in the comments section below.