Super User

In the summer heat, the burning of oil in crude refineries prompts black snow to fall from the sky. This refinement emits carbon particles that have bathed the Niger Delta in soot, leaving its 30 million residents trapped in crises of poverty, sickness, crime, and environmental collapse. Doors and windows remain closed, face masks are worn everywhere, and all are cautious of leaving their houses as the air quality deteriorates in Nigeria. Miles out and into the coast, oil leaks from old underground pipelines have made their way into the water, leaving many citizens to struggle without their traditional livelihoods of fishing and farming. This becomes immediately evident in images of fishermen wading through the bones of mangroves and trees, blackened by layers of oil; and in stories of young men, desperate to make money by kidnapping oil workers and holding them hostage for ransom.