This fascinating set of 'before and after' pictures is shows America's landscapes have changed over the past 40 years.
They show how communities and industries have risen or fallen - or even just stayed the same - as life was transformed by the relentless march of progress.
They come after the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in 2011 called for images to update scenes captured in the early- to mid-Seventies showing the impact humans were having on the environment.
Impact of noise pollution: The left image by Michael Manheim shows Frankfort Street at Lovell Street Intersection, East Boston in May 1973, just after nearby Logan Airport expanded its runways. The right image is same area shot again by Mr Manheim last year, with the entire community forced out by noise pollution
Forced out by progress: The same East Boston neighbourhood shot by Manheim in 1973, left. In the the right hand image taken last year all that remains is the footbridge
Beginning in 1971 the EPA commissioned about 70 professional photographers to document the American landscape using just 40 rolls of film each.
They set out across the coal mines, landfills and manufacturing zones of the then industrial U.S., as well as traversing deserts and farmland, and exploring the nooks and crannies of the big cities.
The result was a collection of more than 15,000 photographs of the country's environmental problems captured over a period of six years, a project the agency dubbed Documerica.
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'It remains today as a collective picture of our environment and lives when EPA's work was just beginning,' an agency spokesman said.
Now, in the past two years, a new generation of photographers is collecting the 'after' pictures, so far submitting more than 2,000 images to the EPA via Flickr.
The new State of the Environment Photography Project asks volunteers to take shots matching the original scenes from Documerica, and also capture new environmental issues in the hope these can be re-shot in the future.
From working harbour to tourist trap: Lobster pots and buoys are seen next to the harbour in Rockport, Massachusetts, in the left photo taken in 1973 by Deborah Parks. Margo Parker's photo of the same spot in 2011 shows how they have been replaced by motor launches of weekend tourists
Still spewing pollution: Left is the Weyerhauser Paper Mills and Reynolds Metal Plant in Longview, on the Columbia River, Washington, an image intense industrial concentration pictured in April 1973 by David Falconer. Right, Craig Leaper recreated the vista in June 2012 last year and submitted it to the EPA
Clearer skies: Smog over Boston, looking north from Columbia Point Traffic Circle, pictured in March 1973 by Ernst Halberstadt (1910-1987). Right is Boston Skyline in April last year seen from Joe Moakley Park, by Roger Archibald
Green power: Pictured left is the John Day Dam viewed from the Washington Side of the Columbia River, looking towards the Oregon shore, shot by David Falconer in May 1973. The John Day dam pictured again in by Scott Butner June 2012, with wind turbines along the ridge in the background
Michael Manheim, one of the original Documerica photographers, says there is more to photographing environmental issues than capturing smoke stacks. He told Smithsonian Magazine that the most effective way to convey their impact is to photograph the people who are affected by them.
Mr Manheim used some of his 40 rolls of film to document noise pollution in East Boston in the Seventies as the expansion of runways at Logan Airport broke down close-knit nearby communities.
Anyone who wants to match his photos today would be best advised to 'meet the affected people, let them know you care, find out what impacts them most,' he said.
'After that, it’s time to energise a camera, and not by posing pictures but by reacting candidly to what is going on in the lives of your subjects.'
Then and now: Left, smoke rises from the Oxford Paper Company Mill at Rumford on the Androscoggin River in a June 1973 photo by Charles Steinhacker. Right, the same spot photographed last year by Victoria Hampshire appears to show even more emissions from the factory
Another view: Left, the same factory pictured from a different angle by Steinhacker. Right, Hampshire's faithful recreation shows how the paper mill has been extended
Work goes on: The primary clarifier at the International Paper Company Mill at Jay on the Androscoggin River pictured left in June, 1973 by Charles Steinhacker. Right, the June 2012 photograph by Victoria Hampshire shows close up just how much the paper mill has expanded in the past four decades
Emissions cleaned up? Black smoke rises from the Oxford Paper Company Mill at Rumford, Maine, in Steinhacker's 1973 shot, left. But by the time Hampshire revisited the site last June all the chimneys steamed white
A river runs through it: The Androscoggin River flowing through Maine between Lewiston (Eastern Shore) and Auburn (Western Shore), pictured in June 1973 by Charles Steinhacker. Lewiston is Maine's foremost textile centre. The photo is recreated right by Munroe Graham in October last year
Powering the nation: Androscoggin River Falls and Power Plant at Rumford, Maine, pictured left by Charles Steinhacker in June 1973. Victoria Hampshire's photo on the right recreates the scene in February 2012
The digital revolution in photography has the potential to make the EPA's latest photo project even more effective than its first, Mr Manheim said. Photographers are now able to instantly view the pictures they've taken, allowing them to know practically instantly whether they've taken 'the shot'.
And the rapid spread of digital information over the Internet means those shots can reach quickly reach a wide audience, increasing the level of awareness of environmental issues.
But given budget cuts facing the EPA and the wariness of industry barring access by photographers, a second Documerica project, with professional photographers, would be impossible today, some believe.
Of the thousands of images so far submitted to the EPA for its State of the Environment Photography Project, only a few really match those originally taken for Documerica.
Still flowing: The Great Falls and part of the city of Lewiston, Maine, seen from the Auburn side of the Androscoggin River, pictured left by Charles Steinhacker in June 1973. Right, a photo of the same spot taken from a different angle by Munroe Graham in April 2012
Always beautiful: Right, the view just after sunrise from a 7,000ft Elevation over the Columbia River Gorge, Washington, between the Dalles and the Hood River pictured in May 1973 by David Falconer. Left, Scott Butner pictures the same river in June last year
Lyntha Scott Eiler, 65, shot photographs for Documerica around her then-home in northern Arizona, as well as one of the early emissions testing sites for automobile exhaust in Hamilton County, Ohio.
At the Navajo Generating Station in Arizona, Ms Eiler got right down in a strip mine 'where the shovels were.'
'They weren't afraid of the EPA, so it was, "What else you do you want to get a photograph of?",' she recalled last year. 'You probably would have a hard time doing that today.'
The project will accept submissions until the end of this year.