Chile's unique Atacama desert sullied by world's junk
  • last year
It may be one of the driest places on Earth -- a brutal, alien landscape where life seems impossible. But Chile's massive Atacama desert is a unique and fragile ecosystem that experts say is being threatened by piles of trash dumped there from around the world. Mountains of discarded clothing, a graveyard of shoes, and rows upon rows of scrapped tires and cars blight at least three regions of the desert in northern Chile.