Ushuaia, Argentina is located on the southernmost tip of South America and nicknamed the “end of the world.” Mario Tama, a staff photographer for Getty Images, documented the climate changes and environmental issues the city faces through the window of a vintage London Routemaster bus.
Ushuaia’s main fresh water supply comes from the retreating Martial Glacier, which may be at risk of disappearing. Warming temperatures have led to a 20% loss of glacier’s mass and surface in Argentina over the last 50 years, according to a 2015 report by Argentina’s Institute of Nivology, Glaciology and Environmental Sciences. Ushuaia and its surrounding Tierra del Fuego face other challenges, which includes a population boom now reaching 150,000 residents and housing challenges. That’s an 11-fold increase between 1970 and 2015. Because it’s the most southern part of South America, the area has become a gateway to Antarctica. An influx of cruise ship tourists and crew has increased waste and pollution in the area, also factoring into its nickname “the end of the world.”
Click through the gallery above to see Argentina’s “end of the world.”
