When Earth Day was proclaimed a national celebration in 1970, the words "ecology" and "biosphere" were rarely heard outside of spelling bees. Since then, clean air, clean waterways and clean fuel have become the norm; toxic dumping is a federal offense; and Superfund cleanup stories usually make it to page one of the newspapers.

In the last several years, photographers around the globe have taken up the plight of the earth, further endangered today through climate change, deforestation, and drought. The landscape, with human activities accepted as a 'natural' aspect of the view for better or worse, provides the raw material, from both a visual and philosophical standpoint. One of the most beguiling exhibitions on view in New York is "Sweet Water," photographs by Ian Baguskas, at Jen Bekman Gallery.

Palms, Furnace Creek Inn, Death Valley, California; Lawn, Agua Dulce, California. All by Ian Baguskas, courtesy of Jen Bekman Gallery.

Last year on a trip to Southern California, Baguskas discovered personal oases in the desert. He found that the ways in which people attempted to create green swaths across the sand defies both nature and reason. He writes, "It is the diversion of rivers and the rapid use of the aquifer that has made it possible for some people to live this dream.

"For others," he continues, "this lifestyle was only temporary, ending when the aquifers were depleted and the water ran out. This was the case for the people of Lake Los Angeles, located within Antelope Valley, where in the 1960s an artificial lake was made to attract land buyers. Left to dry up once the developers sold their land, the empty lake is still colored blue on maps....It is stories like these that made me wonder, and want to explore what still remains of this grand dream to populate the beautiful, yet unlivable, desert."

The result is a suite of photographs that capture the oddness of those enterprises, from a desert inn whose row of monumental palm trees becomes drier, then dead, the further they are from the main buildings, to a home on the sand with an above ground swimming pool. Often photographed at first light, Baguskas' photographs present a landscape that seems to hover somewhere between being and nothingness, mirroring the harshness of the environment.

Sweet Water, photographs by Ian Baguskas, is on view through May 3rd at Jen Bekman Gallery, 6 Spring Street, New York, New York, NY. 212.219.0166 or info@jenbekman.com. Earth Day 2008 is Tuesday, April 22.