9 Of The Most Polluted Places In The World (PHOTOS)

From the highways of Los Angeles to the Citarum River of Bandung, Indonesia, earth's most polluted city of Linfen, China to the streets of London, the world is laden with man-made pollution. Chemical, air, water and oil pollution ruin the environment, cause premature deaths, spoil the world's resources and worsen climate change.

As the world's population soars to nearly 7 billion, we here at HuffPost Green decided to take a virtual tour of some of the world's most polluted places. Check out our slideshow of nine places that top lists for pollution both nationally and sometimes throughout the whole world. Find out which city's death rate surpasses its birth rate by 260 percent. Or which city has 50,000 people die prematurely each year due to man-made air pollution. As always, we want to hear from you. Tell us what you think in the comments.

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Linfen, China

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Linfen, China is the most polluted city on earth. According to The Daily Green, if one puts laundry out to dry, it will turn black before finishing drying. Located in China's coal belt, spending one day in Linfen is equivalent to smoking three packs of cigarettes. 3 million people are affected by Linfen's coal and particulates pollution, which is residue from automobile and industrial emissions.

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Linfen, China is the most polluted city on earth. According to The Daily Green, if one puts laundry out to dry, it will turn black before finishing drying. Located in China's coal belt, spending one day in Linfen is equivalent to smoking three packs of cigarettes. 3 million people are affected by Linfen's coal and particulates pollution, which is residue from automobile and industrial emissions.

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Comments

[Diella Dachlan]

03:33 AM on 10/19/2010

It's heartbreaking to see Citarum river is included to this list. The river is one of the most important rivers in Indonesia. Brief about the river: Citarum river is 269 kilometer long, passing 12 districts and cities in West Java province. Three big dams are built getting water sources from the river and the river is water sources for nearly 25 million people living in the river basin. Effort for Citarum recovery has been started, involving various sectors of the government and other stakeholders. Though it may take a while to clean the river, but as Indonesian myself, I keep the faith and hope that the river will be recovered (and it will be taken out of this list)

[dt12345]

09:50 AM on 10/01/2010

The article “9 Of The Most Polluted Places In The World” (8/31/2010) is relevant to today’s discussion on rising air pollution levels and rightly highlights the need to expand green energy policies; however, the information regarding Linfen, China is outdated and inaccurately describes the city’s current environmental conditions and policy trajectory.
Since 2006 the Linfen Government, under instruction from the Shanxi Provincial Government, has implemented a series of more stringent environmental and energy policies. To date, 1056 coal-burning industries have been shutdown, of which 649 are permanent closures(1). The production of coal, coke and iron have all declined in the last four years from 55929.6kt to 25561kt, 22631.4kt to 17072kt and 12029kt to 9173kt, respectively(2). Eighty thousand families now use natural gas as compared to 60,000 in 2005(3). And the coverage of central heating has been expanded from 760,000m2 to 1,500,000m2(4).
China’s State Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA) reported that in 2009 Linfen experienced 334 days with Air Pollution Index of 2 or better, up from 187 days in 2005(5). The result is that Linfen, once ranked last on SEPA’s Environmental Monitoring List, is now 29th of 113 cities in terms of water and air quality(6).
Clearly Linfen is no longer the world’s most polluted city, nor even the most polluted in China.
For the full response (with citations/photos), please see: http://flickr.com/photos/dt12345.
Sincerely,
Deliang Tang, MD, DrPH
Associate Professor
Department of Environmental Health Sciences
Mailman School of Public Health
Columbia University

[sierraseven]

10:22 PM on 09/14/2010

It's been over a year since the US military installation burn pits in Iraq and Afghanistan were a trendy story. When I was in Balad, in 2006 - 2007, the smoke plume sometimes contained tiny black shreds that floated gently down on us, turning into oily droplets when they contacted our skin, and instantly sinking in, leaving a tiny black smudge. We wore gloves and glasses and tried really hard not to get the stuff on our skin. The Army assured us there was nothing but inert dust particulates in the smoke plume ... we googled the combustion products of the plastics that were burned in huge heaps every day, and we knew differently. Water bottles, meal trays, plastic flatware enough to feed and water several thousand people a day, heavy plastic shrink-wrap from freight pallets, it all went into the smoldering pit along with an assortment of every kind of discarded material one could imagine, including medical waste from the hospital.

We didn't like to complain - after all, compared to the shattered and burned troops the Blackhawks delivered to the hospital all day and night, what was a little greasy smoke? But now the long-term effects are showing. Do a search for Balad burn pit, or Iraq or Afghanistan burn pits. Read the stories. Most polluted? And Balad, Iraq is not on the list?

"What potions have I drunk of siren's tears
Distilled from limbecks foul as hell within!"

[lookonbothsides]

10:43 AM on 09/04/2010

Where is the photo Linfen,China from? I don't think it's linfen Nowadays...

[DawnLI]

11:36 PM on 09/03/2010

Visit China... come home with emphysema. Sounds like a plan.

[elvirapc]

05:25 AM on 09/03/2010

Wow! Citarum River Bandung is on the list!

[zeeshan809]

02:52 AM on 09/03/2010

Watching floods and other natural disasters, if governments do not get serious about environmental issues, we are in for a big big calamity.

www.celebritydialogue.com

[mtbook]

08:54 PM on 09/02/2010

Sucks to be me, breathing in ozone-filled air that will one day manifest as adult-onset asthma, bronchitis, and emphysema.

Oh wait, I'm too busy sitting inside getting cancer from radon and Type 2 diabetes from processed sugar. Take that atmosphere! You lose again!

[Jenna Hunt]

07:41 PM on 09/02/2010

Very interesting to see London here. What about Fort McMurry, Canada? Soon..
We must wean ourselves off oil or go cold turkey as I have done when I sold my car 4 years ago.l I use an electric bike, which does use hydro electricity. I grow some of my food, buy second hand when possible- actually resale items are usually better than first hand! Rea- Natural Capitalism, spread good news, and influence your car driving, meat eating, baby making friends!

[joseelr]

11:15 PM on 09/02/2010

Think it will be QUITE a while before Fort McMurray reaches the filth of London.

[Jayrod]

05:15 PM on 09/02/2010

1 China
2 United States
3 India
4 Russia
5 Japan

[indieyell]

04:44 PM on 09/02/2010

So sad.. but hopefully we're learning, slowing and painfully? This collection of videos about the worlds pollution manages to be honest but still at moments uplifting - http://www.frequency.com/topic/pollution/253

[Sandman911]

03:44 PM on 09/02/2010

Wow !! And California has the strictest enviromental laws in the free world !!! We can't even pee here unless you trap the emissions !!!!

[julbar]

06:24 PM on 09/02/2010

hilarious comment but not funny , if that makes any sense.

[mendodnem]

06:30 PM on 09/02/2010

Yeah, and the oil money is backing a yes on prop. 23 to weaken
CA's laws. Hope we have enough voters who can see through
the lying tv ads. However, there are cadre of dumb and /or lazy people who do not read the context of the props. VOTE NO on #23!

[tray tr]

02:39 PM on 09/02/2010

sosad

[ClientEarth]

12:02 PM on 09/02/2010

The air quality in London is truly terrible, and dangerous. This is unacceptable anywhere in the world, but for this to be the case in an advanced industrialised democracy is unbelievable. Our organisation, ClientEarth, a group of activist environmental lawyers, is working on a solution to the city’s unacceptable air pollution. We’re based in London ourselves, so we know first-hand how bad it is.

At the moment there are up to 8000 premature deaths within London caused by illegal levels of particulate matter in the air, which causes heart and lung related illnesses. The amount of nitrogen oxide also exceeds legal levels set by the EU (who base their safety limits on World Health Organisation recommendations) all across central London and the city’s busiest roads. This is also affecting the health of our children, making asthma worse and retarding lung development.

The mayor of London, Boris Johnson, has released an Air Quality Strategy, but its recommendations are too weak to significantly improve pollution in a quick enough period, leaving millions of Londoners and visitors to suffer in the mean time.

ClientEarth is leading a campaign for the mayor to improve air quality across the city and challenging him using European law, which is currently being breached. You can follow us on Facebook or look at website: www.clientearth.org

[Sandman911]

03:47 PM on 09/02/2010

Everything you stated is true. What amazes me is all this is going on AFTER Europes Cap & Trade has been called a success. Guess the only real winners are the Carbon exchanges that made hundreds of billions in profits. No wonder Al Gore, G.E. and Goldman Sachs invested in Obama & the Joyce Foundation's "Chicago Carbon Exchange" !!!!!!!

[julbar]

06:28 PM on 09/02/2010

Thank you for this information.

[irishpoetry]

06:18 AM on 09/02/2010

We must make everything better for humanity.