Soak in the beauty and fragility of our dynamic planet with these stunning photos

While it may be tempting to dwell only on the doom and gloom prognostications for the future of our environment, the world is still filled with beauty. You just have to look for it.

Here are 51 images that illustrate not only the fragility of our beautiful, watery world, but also it's splendor:

Global temperatures are rising, despite scientists' and policymakers' best efforts to come up with a plan to curb climate change.

Extreme storms, drought, and water shortages are on the rise.

One of the worst droughts in Brazil's history caused this lakebed of the Itumbiara hydroelectric dam to dry up in 2013, leaving these prone clamshells behind.

Heavy flooding events, such as Hurricane Harvey in 2017, will only get worse as sea levels climb.

Some coastal cities, like Miami, will start to sink into the ocean.

Invasions of crop-killing species, such as this swarm of locusts sweeping through Dakar in September 2004, are threatening food supplies.

And unprecedented levels of smog are layering a choking fog over densely populated cities in China and India.

The water in some regions of the world is so full of agricultural and chemical runoff that it creates explosions of algae, which can harm humans and natural ecosystems.

The green algae pulled from this lake in Hefei, Anhui province in Eastern China in 2009 almost looks like green acrylic paint.

And this bloom in Chaohu Lake looks like an abstract painting.

But algae isn't the only problem. Illegal dumping into waterways, like in this river polluted with red dye from a chemical plant in Luoyang, Henan province, is a big problem in many parts of the world.

Source: International Business Times

In 2007, scores of fish died in this lake in Wuhan, central China's Hubei province due to excess levels of pollution and sweltering temperatures.

Source: Business Insider

Polar bears, like many other species, are in serious danger. This one has resorted to cannibalism.

Whales are struggling from multiple threats including pollution, habitat destruction, and overfishing.

But the world still has the capacity to awe nature-lovers.

People around the world are making the best of all our incredible planet has to offer.

These boys converted a flooded rice field in Indonesia into a fun water slide.

Our oceans and land support Earth's diverse creatures in life, like this polar bear.

And these grey seals.

Starlings take to the sky in beautiful formations.

Here, in Greece, the flock is so thick it almost blocks out the sky.

The Northern Lights seen above Iceland's Eyjafjallajokull volcano are a helpful reminder that we are a tiny speck in a massive universe.

Our planet is breathtaking.

It's especially beautiful when viewed from space.

Astronaut Scott Kelly took these photos while he spent a year on the International Space Station.

They are incomprehensibly beautiful.

Yes, our planet is changing.

But there are many things we're doing to protect it.

Which starts with bringing awareness to these changes on Earth Day.

Hopefully, we'll come together to protect our planet's breathtaking beauty.

Before it's too late.

Soak in the beauty and fragility of our dynamic planet with these stunning photos

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