The Tarnished Earth Street Gallery was launched in September 2010 outside City Hall on London's South Bank with Ray Mears and Chief Lameman of the Beaver Lake Cree Nation. With an average stay of three weeks in virtually every major city in the UK, this stunnning and emotive exhibition was seen by approaching 10 million people.

Above Left to right: Chief Lameman at Tarnished Earth opening, London; a member of public signing the online petition; Ray Mears at Tarnished Earth opening, London

As well as 24 stunning and thought provoking images, the exhibition included a touch screen kiosk which allowed members of the public to sign a digital petition supporting the production of clean energy - over 40,000 people supported the campaign.

Photographs from the exhibition were used in large photo features in the Metro, Guardian and Independent. After London, the street gallery visited cities across the UK, including Leeds, Birmingham, Belfast, Brussels, Manchester, Brighton, Plymouth, Cardiff, Northampton, Edinburgh, Swansea, Isle of Man, Sheffield and Liverpool.

Extract from market research commissioned by the Co-operative 2011:

"The exhibition prompted a significant shift in visitors’ awareness of Tar Sands. Significantly, more attendees knew something about Tar Sands after viewing Tarnished Earth than beforehand (92% vs 28%). The exhibition also significantly increased visitors’ concerns about climate change (74% concerned pre-exhibition vs 85% post)."

Natives fight to protect Canada's tar sands

Russell Trott reports - Click here to see a BBC report about this issue

Tarnished Earth: the destruction of Canada's boreal forest

To see The Guardian feature about the destruction - Click here

The Co-operative presents Tarnished Earth

Below is a time lapse recording of the Tarnished Earth exhibition being setup at Morelondon on the South Bank.