Photo Slideshow: Great Lakes Pollution, Ed Wargin’s Fresh Coast Project

The Fresh Coast Project, an ambitious 10-year, around-the-lakes journey that captures the Great Lakes on film, was created by photographer Ed Wargin to visualize the lakes and streams as one stunning, connected, living story. But Wargin captures the good with the bad, in this series of exclusive photos showing the pollution he found during his travels.

The project brings visual context to the Great Lakes’ darkest challenges and their brightest futures. Through imagery, stories, and media, Wargin shares the visual poetry of the Great Lakes, from serene backwaters to the crescendos of waves on their grandest bays — but he also captures the bad with the good, as these photos show pollution he found during his travels. Wargin says his goal is to show the global community that the Great Lakes, as one ecosystem, is a rare wonder of the world. Click through the slideshow below to see a few selections from The Fresh Coast Project.

Ed Wargin is a Minnesota-based professional photographer with more than 25 years experience. For The Fresh Water Project, Wargin drove more than 100,000 miles and crossed the Mackinac Bridge more than 200 times, consuming 800 granola bars and 2,000 cups of coffee during his travels. Wargin can be reached by email here.