China: Pollution

China's cities for years are leading in one unpopular category: Pollution. One city, Lifen (Shanxi Province) according to many sources is one of the most polluted city not only in China, but in the world. !


“This soot-blackened city (Linfen) in China's inland Shanxi province makes Dickensian London look as pristine as a nature park. Shanxi is the heart of China's coal belt, and the hills around Linfen are dotted with mines, legal and illegal, and the air is filled with burning coal. Don't bother hanging your laundry — it'll turn black before it dries. China's State Environmental Protection Agency says that Linfen has the worst air in the country. “ Time




Shocking Facts:

Only 1% of China’s 560 million urban dwellers breathe air considered safe by the European Union, and nearly 500 million lack access to safe drinking water.
US population is ~310 mln (so imagine the entire country without acess to safe drinking water)

World Bank recently examined 20 of the most severely polluted cities in the world. Sixteen of these cities are located in China !, and Linfen City (watch video below), in Shanxi Province, was cited as the world's most polluted city.
Potentially Affected People: 3,000,000.

Residents of Linfen are claiming that they literally choke on coal dust in the evenings.

The rate of birth defects in this region is six times higher than the national average.

China has promised to clear up its air and water, but in this province, industry comes before a cleaner environment.!!!




Did you ever wonder what one of China's most polluted city looks like? Well wonder no more.





Sources:

More on China and other countries @
http://www.blacksmithinstitute.org/files/FileUpload/files/AR2008.pdf

http://www.theepochtimes.com/news/6-6-10/42510.html
http://www.greencross.ch/en/knowledge/most-polluted-places//2007/linfen-china/

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8012852.stm

http://www.time.com/time/specials/2007/article/0,28804,1661031_1661028,00.html

http://siteresources.worldbank.org/INTDATASTA/64199955-1178226923002/21322619/LGDB2007.pdf


About VBS:
VBS is an online broadcast network. We stream original content, free of charge and 24 hours a day. We carry a mix of domestic and international news, pop and underground culture coverage, and the best music in the world. People have used words like eclectic, smart, funny, shocking, and revolutionary to describe VBS, but we kind of just snapped our fingers in their faces and went, “Whatever. Tell us something we don’t know.”

With Academy Award-nominated director Spike Jonze (Adaptation, Being John Malkovich) as our creative director, original content from a veritable United Nations of contributors, and bureaus in 20 countries, VBS has hit the planet in a manner not unlike a massive global plague. Streaming on VBS’s signature “in-room” widescreen and remote, content will be available all the time, on-demand.

Basically, VBS will exploit every utopian vision the internet has thus far failed to live up to. Thanks for watching.
website: http://www.vbs.tv