The dirtiest place on earth. Nope, it's not the Gulf Coast.

It's Linfen, China.  The air quality is the equivalent of smoking three packs of cigarettes a day.  What's worse for China?  16 out of 20 of the world's most polluted cities are in China.  16!!  And Linfen, a coal mining city, is at the top of the list with a constant toxic smog hovering over the city. 

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.


The video of Linfen is incredibly disturbing.  My lungs seized up just watching it.