The Most Polluted Place on the Planet

CNN has a cool piece about the dirtiest place on the entire planet. No, it's not the Gulf, but a city in China (big surprise). For all of the handwringing about how horrid the American environmental record is, we can actually see something even worse in the People's Republic of China:

The sun sets before it is supposed to, disappearing into a curtain of smog above the true horizon. Residents scavenge the roadside for coal that falls from the seemingly endless cavalcade of coal trucks, gathering it with bare hands. Schoolchildren play against the nonstop backdrop of billowing exhaust. Many of the elderly have trouble speaking between gasps of widespread emphysema.

Residents of Linfen are aware of the growing threat the polluted air and water pose, and some of them have left the city. Most, however, have no choice but to stay.

At least I know of a new tourist destination I can go to. If anyone wants to send PayPal donations to send me to Linfen, just send me an email.