• #megapollution

    Portrait of a Polluted Land

    NASA's Aqua satellite captured this image of a massive smog bank smothering huge portions of China today. This blanket of pollution has been hovering over the country for over a week now, exacerbated by cool air and smoke from fires. More »
  • #megapollution

    Beneath the Sulfurous Skies

    Nothing like a stark data visualization to impress upon you just how bad pollution has gotten in Beijing. Here you can see the levels of sulfur in the air over the past several years in three similarly-sized regions of the world: on the far left is the U.S. midwest, the middle is eastern Europe, and the right is the Beijing region. Areas shaded red have the highest sulfur emissions. Created by researchers at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, these images are a stark reminder that economic development is often accompanied by environmental degradation. More »