The most polluted Places in the world

I learned that Asia tops the list of the most polluted places in the world. Most people are saying that India is getting to the top of the list. We all know that China is becoming the world's most industrialized nation. do you think China can go green? I recently read that India is the world's most polluted country. The report also said a certain area in Zambia is one of the most polluted places on earth. I don't know much about America but I also learned that New York tops the list of the most polluted cities in America.Which country do you think is the world's most polluted country and why?

[ladyfaith]

I have never been to India or Zambia but I do know there are times when the US seems very polluted as well. I guess that's why I have always enjoyed living out in the country where the air is fresh, most of the time anyway.

well there is no doubt that New York is polluted. not just New York but i think almost all the major cities in America are very polluted these days. talking about pollution here smoke and noise easily come to mind. too much noise for that matter. i've been to India once and i can say that yes certain parts of India are very polluted. Bombay is highly overpopulated and hence no doubt. i've never been to Nigeria. but i read it somewhere that Zambia is on the top list.

[krrish]

In my opinion,China & India are the leading one in this category.Both these countries are also the most populated in the world & I think this is one of the major reason of pollution there.Now NY city is becoming more & more polluted.Still then its ranking in the world will be low.

[Darthaneon]

I don’t think that India is the most polluted country in the world because I know that they seldom used cars as transportation. They would always use buros as their way of transportation.

[Simplyme]

I would be curious to find out just which is the most polluted country. All I know is that we have regular health warnings here in Arizona because of how bad the air pollution is and all the health issues it is causing state wide.

[Brandbla8]

I would have to think China is the worst, however US is not doing so good itself. We are starting to put things in play to help in the US and it will be interesting to see how this all plays out.

[Andy]

Originally Posted by Brandbla8

however US is not doing so good itself.

I totally agree. Just look what happen on the Mississippi. We really need to be careful because it takes no time to destroy the environment but a long time to repair it.

[wilh81]

The polluted rate is proportionally increase with the rate of the population...

Which means, when the country is over populated, this will probably leading to the serious pollution problem as well...

[Asad]

I stay in Hyderabad, India.
Let me tell you whats going on here.

There is a place called 'PatanCheru', which is the second most populated area of the WORLD! Yes, the world. Believe me. See it on Google Earth, you will just see a white layer covering that area. You cannot see any land there. This area is about 25 Sq.Kms, which has hundreds of industries. The smell of chemical, ouch, that hurts you nose. I have been there many times and I also stayed there for about an hour. Believe me, your nose will start burning after 10 minutes, then, slowly after 30 minutes, the chest will burn even if you cover you nose with a cloth. But, still, the population of that area is 127,000.

huh!

[arcel]

Originally Posted by Kofi

I learned that Asia tops the list of the most polluted places in the world. Most people are saying that America is getting to the top of the list. We all know that China is becoming the world's most industrialized nation. do you think China can go green? I recently read that India is the world's most polluted country and that Zambia is forcing its way. do you agree? I am not sure but I know Nigeria is the most populated and hence the most polluted country in Africa and that Ghana is the most environmentally friendly. I don't know much about America but I also learned that New York tops the list of the most polluted cities in America. do you agree? Which country do you think is the world's most polluted country?

----

China is the most polluted country in the world. Beijing is the most polluted city! What do you expect, There are billions plus Chinese in China. let us say 1 percent of a billion has a car. that is almost 10 million cars china alone all producing CO2!

Just the other day. Before the opening of the Olympics! Beijing was covered by a smog! That shows you how polluted China is.

China is having its industrial revolution on the wrong era of this lifetime!

[harpreet_singh]

According to my knowledge china holds the top spot for the most polluted city in world.Linfen city in Shanxi province china is the worlds most polluted city.

Originally Posted by harpreet_singh

According to my knowledge china holds the top spot for the most polluted city in world. Linfen city in Shanxi province china is the worlds most polluted city.

you are right harpreet!.. i think China's population and also China's industrial growth could be the two major factors responsible

[harpreet_singh]

Yes Gloria you hit the rigt spots.Population and industrial growth is responsible for high pollution.But major contribution is from the industries in China.

[s_k]

Well as a citizen of India, i would like to state here that even though some of the major cities liek Delhi,Mumbai,Calcutta are very polluted, but then there are other areas as well which are very green, like, Kerala etc. It all depends upon how responsible are the citizens are and how aware is the government. In some places,pollution has been on constant increase ever since the place has risen in industrial and population growth.

[surat]

I think, China and India are principal in this category. These two countries are populated also in the world and I think that it is one of the primary reasons of pollution there. Maintaining the town of NY becomes more and more polluted. Then its role in the world will be always low.

[bellebelle]

here are some of the world's dirtiest cities. This isn't the correct order, just the order that the information came

#10: Milan, Italy - according to a study by Italian environmental group Legambiente, Milan has more smog than any other city in Europe and the continent’s second-highest level of ozone.

#9: Norilsk, Russia - home to 134,000 residents and the world’s largest heavy-metal-smelting firm, Norilsk’s Soviet-era plant spews tons of heavy metals like nickel and cobalt into the air, leading to severe respiratory and throat diseases in children and a life expectancy 10 years below the Russian average for plant workers.

#8: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania - Pittsburgh recently wrested the title of America’s most polluted city from Los Angeles—at least when it comes to short-term particle pollution like soot, aerosols, heavy metals and exhaust. But the city of 335,000, which has transitioned from an industrial town to one of the country’s most livable cities, may not be to blame for its bad air. According to some research, much of Pittsburgh’s pollution is blown in from factories and power plants in Ohio.

#7: Mexico City, Mexico - Mexico City is a natural pollution trap. Surrounded by mountains on three sides and located 7,400 feet above sea level, the soot and exhaust from the city’s four million mostly high-polluting cars gets trapped in a cloud over the city, which experiences 300 days a year of exceedingly high ozone levels.

#6: Dakar, Senegal - Dakar is West Africa’s cosmopolitan hub, but just a stone’s throw from the city is an environmental catastrophe. The Baie de Hanne, which provides drinking and household water to two million people, contains levels of fecal streptococci more than 17 times World Health Organization standards.

#5: Sumgayit, Azerbaijan- Sumgayit used to be the New Jersey of the Soviet Union—the town was the nation’s center of chemical and pesticide production. Today, it is still feeling the aftereffects of years of untreated, mercury-contaminated waste dumped directly into streams feeding the Caspian Sea. Cancer rates in the city of 275,000 are sky-high. The World Bank has stepped into the city, which was declared an environmental disaster area, and is helping to clean up old plant sites.

#4: Linfen, China - This city of more than four million is in the heart of Shanxi, China’s coal-production hub, and has frequently been deemed the most polluted city in the world; citizens suffer from choking clouds of coal dust as well as drinking water polluted with arsenic. But Linfen is not the only city in the country with environmental woes—the World Bank estimates that 16 of the world’s 20 most polluted cities are found in China’s industrial areas.

#3: La Oroya, Peru - For 85 years, the citizens of La Oroya have been smelting lead, copper and zinc. Now 99 percent of the town’s children harbor levels of toxic lead that exceed acceptable limits. Acid rain has destroyed most of the surrounding vegetation, turning the region into a wasteland.

#2: Cubatao Valley, Brazil - The Cubatao Valley, a region home to more than two million people, is Brazil’s industrial and chemical heart. The Cubatao River, the area’s main water source, is clogged with 1.5 million tons of raw sewage per year and more than 10,000 kilograms of toxic industrial waste per month.

#1: Kabwe, Zambia - For 92 years, the lead and copper mines outside Kabwe, Zambia, ran with little or no environmental protections. It’s been more than a decade since the smelters shut down, and the lead level found in the average child, who bathes in a lead-contaminated stream and is constantly exposed to contaminated soil, is still five to 10 times the maximum allowed by the U.S. EPA. In many cases, children carry almost fatal levels of contamination

I'm posting a link to the article because this was only a small part of the information about each city (don't worry, the article isn't too long lol). I couldn't believe that there are so many cities in such dismay and the pollution are the reasons for a lot of the health problems that we face today. And the saddest part of it all is that the children are the ones that seem to suffer from it the worst Okay I'm getting sad and angry all over again, time to go outside and breathe some "fresh" air.

[John9]

Cities in developing countries are usually the most polluted. The people there only care about developing their nation, and do not care much about the environment. While in developed countries people have started to be more environmentally friendly.

I am currently Staying in Capital of India Delhi

Let me tell you that this is the City where we find the number of Vehicles are increasing day by day and which makes the city very Polluted. we should take few steps to avoid that. we are not able to walk on the Roads without keeping handkerchief on our mouths

[saji]

Tokyo is the world no. one in polluted list... In Tokyo they are selling fresh air(oxygen)... almost we are all part of it...
Think of it... after some days we are in the situation too...
It's not about pollution alone.... But to save the planet "our home".

[ava_z]

Data show that China is trying hard to keep pollution within limits.China will spend money for water pollution treatment.
By 2010, China will spend an estimated 1,900,000,000,000 yuan for environmental governance in order to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, clean up polluted rivers and stop the erosion. The world's fastest-growing major economies who have more investment from the clean air and drinking water services company, the development is an opportunity. For example, Veolia is now providing drinking water system management services for 18,700,000 people in china.

According to reports, clean governance in China will spend 1,000,000,000,000 yuan on water treatment and distribution, because it was estimated that 70% of China's rivers have been polluted and 13 million people in not drinking clean water. Such a large water market will look forward to more large-scale water treatment company to invest in it.

[ricky]

yea you are rite that Asian countries are among the most polluted places.. the problem with pollution is not global warming but also affects the health residents of that place.. like in Asian countries, there is a rapid increase in the number of asthmatic patients..

[Walker]

I am not familiar with the pollution levels in other countries...but I am familiar with how they are...here in India.

The most polluted big city in my eyes is...no doubt New Delhi.

My eyes always begin to strain a lot when I am there......Even place like Vapi which has lots of chemical industries around it is highly polluted. When my train passes through that city, there is unmistakably very foul smell of various gases in the air trouble you....

It really makes me wonder...how are the people living there coping with so much polluted air?

Regards,

Walker

[Freeoptio]

Pollution is now choking China, India and some nations who are now industrializing. Consider the cases of these two great nations. As they march towards the dreamed goal of improved economy through industrialization, they suffered the enormous side-effects of water and air pollution.

Getting ahead of pollution-producing industries required some sort of great political will and financial means in order to curb it. Now, I don't think their governments will do so much regulations on this aspect because they don't want to compromise the great economic benefits out from these industries.

It is really sad that most of the time, economic progress comes at a great cost of compromising the health of our planet and that even that of ourselves. Of course, there are now some available mature technology to confront this menace but the bottom line is they all required some hard cash.

I don't see some fast and immediate solution on the problem of pollution. In the first place, this is mainly caused by human activities all around us. Everything we do affects the planet Earth. But we could contribute something on a personal level and this is where everything should start.

[Aleiah]

I read that the most polluted place or country in the world is China. This is due to the fact that China has become highly-industrialized, where factories just kept on sprouting like weeds.. Most of these industries opened in China as they have relatively low salary/wage rate than in other areas. We know that China has billions of workers to offer at a low rate, and its important for them to get this industries to also counter unemployment in their cities. And in order to satisfy that, the environment suffers, China needs to regulate these industries also. They should also have environment-friendly strategies.

[ultimoz]

i have never been outside my own country "INDIA" but in india i can say that most populated city is Mumbai.. because the traffic and garbage there is out of control which cause heavy pollution.. so my opinion is Mumbai

[r1superman]

I would say that China and India are the most polluted places in the world. i have been to China and have seen the conditions they live in and seen their worst streets. It is saddening and I can't help but have to blame the government and the marketing their. Have the stuff in the US is built in factories over there.

China is the most polluted country on earth and there is little they are doing about. Those Chinese people don't seem to care much about the environment. If it is your first time in China It is very difficult to breath in some areas because of air pollution.