Hopefully, most Americans know by now that climate change is a reality and that much of it is caused by human activity. But to properly understand the global context of climate change, we need to understand that citizens in some countries and cities around the world are in greater danger to their physical safety than others. With that in mind, Time Magazine reports that a new study from the Blacksmith Institute has identified the top ten most polluted cities around the world (the list is unranked):

• Sumgayit, Azerbaijan
• Linfen, China
• Tianying, China
• Sukinda, India
• Vapi, India
• La Oroya, Peru
• Dzerzhinsk, Russia
• Norilsk, Russia
• Chernobyl, Ukraine
• Kabwe, Zambia

The article notes that according to the World Bank, 16 of the world’s 20 most polluted cities are in China. Overall, India’s environment is a little better but as the article notes, it’s mainly because India is growing more slowly than China. Pretty scary.

The U.S. certainly has its own environmental problems, but as I wrote about in my other blog on food safety in China, it is a little humbling to know that in the entire global context, we Americans are actually very lucky and that we generally have it much easier than millions, even billions of other humans around the world.