Beijing is dirty.

Beijing's air is so dirty, it has now exceeded their own indices.  You know how the US Homeland Security has the five level alert system, ranging in color from green to blue to yellow to orange to red?  Beijing's air is equivalent to black on the alert system...figuratively and literally.

The Chinese government decided to blame Mother Nature for the pollution, saying that it was a case of stagnant air.

So you know that problem of too much mercury in fish?  Guess where that's coming from!  If the air in Beijing is tolerable (because of the wind), the rest of us are paying the price.

via The Guardian UK

via NYT

via InHabitat

via FT

via APM's Marketplace

via DW / Reuters

via Slate

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Update: You've heard of the Fog of War; is this the second coming of the Fog of Death?