The Devastating Effects of Pollution in China (Part 1/2)

We went to the single most polluted place on earth, the coal-mining town of Linfen in Shanxi Province, China, where kids play in dirty rivers and the sun sets early behind a thick curtain of smog.

Check out "Toxic: America's Water Crisis" here:

[wanghanshen]

As a young Chinese, watching this is killing me. The past ten years was probably China's best years in economical growth but the sacrifice is just too great to recover from. I'm studying abroad, and each time when I'm about to go back home the only thing that I hate is the pollution. I really hope the government could take serious actions to make the environment better, or we will pay the price soon.

[jackfrost]

id rather be poor and have a great environment
be rich and have this shit to enjoy

[Fumfig]

When we cut down the last tree, catch the last fish, pollute that last river and trap the last animal; man will realize he cannot eat money.

[kamelontti]

I love how we europeans are so proud to not pollute our air with factories because we just shifted our factories to china and then we complain about the chinese polluting the air, it's actually europeans and americans...

[PatrickBaptist]

LOL, a painters mask will hardly do anything for you, might as well not wear it, you need a full faced mask with a good chemical filter on it. The particles go into your eyes and into your blood.

[KevinRAAMAAAGE]

The guy who was talking about how beautiful Linfen was, and about the hot springs, it broke my heart when his voice cracked. The CCP really has failed it's people

[youandiryan]

Can you imagine what we are ALL doing on a global scale?! All of us, all countries, put together, we are fucking earth up so badly. Make me feel like a piece of shit for being human. Because we are the ones causing our own demise. And sad thing is we know it. No other creatures in the world do this.

[Mycenaea]

On top of it all, they're also smoking :P

[kimchigerbil]

this is heartbreaking. all the suffering of the people and animals. just a shame.

[danielbergholz]

This is the kind of video that motivates me to keep studying environmental Engineering

[theskv]

''The food here is grown in the fields, with cancerous chemicals, but I'm sure it's just as bad than the food back home grown in labs!''

*facepalm*

[allamericandude]

People try to make pollution a communism or capitalism thing. If you haven't figured it out by now, such economic ideologies have little to do with pollution.  China pollutes, the US pollutes, Europe pollutes, the Soviets polluted while they were still around. So long as you have an authoritarian government with little accountability--a necessary ingredient for communism, but something that's common in many other countries including the US--the polluters will keep on polluting because the government will protect them, be they private corporations or government agencies or whatever.

[Hydragurum]

Damn I feel like I'm choking just watching this

[AntiCuteness]

"It isn't here, I don't care."
Basically the comment section.

[CRoadster]

Air quality so bad, they'll buy your bottled fart.

[monsieurcandie]

what an ugly place to live..i m glad i live in argentina, in my ranch with my 2 horses and my dog! I hope those companies that pollute will shut dowm..they must shut down..When they will get that the enviroment is more important than money?

[frankdavis]

This was the golden age of Vice. When it had accumulated the resources to do projects like this but still wasn't corporatized and reduced to a mainstream shell of its former self.

[Mrbfgray]

Back in the around the 1960's rivers in the USA would sometimes catch on fire due to industrial waste, Los Angeles had a permanent brown dome overhead, it stunk and burned your eyes. The people (particularly the youth) protested and the clean water act, EPA and other environmental initiatives were created and things have improved dramatically since.

[REDPOWERable]

RIP Earth... I love my ipad, iphone, laptop, tv, refrigerator and dishwasher is my favorite one...my level of selfishness is too high...

[MeniscusKing]

This could honestly happen anywhere in the world once the population reaches a certain point. This is a little preview of what our future could become if we don't start finding better ways to support our population