Copşa Mică, Romania Copşa Mică (Kiskapus) used to be a toll of importance on a merchants’ route, as referred by the Hungarian name of the settlement (small gated). The exploitation of methane gas meant the chance of development. In 1961 it was declared one of the most significant industrial zones of Romania, the carbon black factory worked until 1993. Since the change of political system a non-ferrous metal and a smelting factory has been working continuously polluting the water, the air, the soil. Air pollution facts were confidential in the time of communism. At present the amount of the less-known elements of pollution — spelter, cadmium — is the triple of what is allowed. People living here are constantly ill from breathing in the poisonous gases. The highest infant mortality rate on Europe, reduced lung function and neorobehavioral problems. The photo essay is to support the interpretation of the significance of the relationship between people and nature, and also to reveal the values everyone holds, though they are often hidden or repressed. The essay exposes the question how the society of our age is related to its cultural and natural values. Water, air and soil pollution, forest fires are constant elements of our globalized world including Romania.