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Ahhh, urban living. Everything nearby, convenient publicservices, lots of great places to eat…and legions of people, throwing out tons of garbage, every day. Most cities can stayon top of their garbage piles…but some, not so much. Here arenine cities germophobes and neat freaks should avoid.
Mumbai, India
Mumbai might just be the litter capital of the world, which makes sense, as its insanelyovercrowded. Every public service, from trains to roads, is strained to the breaking point. Whichwouldn’t be so problematic except the same is true of the sewers and drainage system, andMumbai gets monsoons. Bring galoshes, and possibly a full-body hazmat suit.
Cuidad Juarez, Mexico
Most of Mexico is actually pretty nice. Yeah, it’s the Third World, but it’s the kind of country wherepeople generally keep things neat. Unfortunately, they have a serious drug crime problem, andthat can make some cities…interesting.
The most “interesting” is Cuidad Juarez, which is essentially a city run by criminals. And criminalsaren’t interested in, say, picking up the trash or filling in potholes…which is ironic in light of the factthe drug dealers that run the place? Yeah, they’re all driving fancy cars. Hope your fancy carincludes some very fancy shocks, Mr. Coke Exporter.
Pittsburgh, USA
Let’s take a moment from picking on the Third World to picking on Pittsburgh, the place wherethey put fries in their sandwiches. No, really, they do that. They also have the worst air in Americain terms of solid objects floating in it.
And that’s not the smell of Steelers fans after too many beers at the game (or Pirates fans uponwaking up and realizing their home team is still the Pirates). It’s because of all the soot and exhaustin the air, so much of it that Pittsburgh comes in second on year-round levels of small particles inthe air and first in short-term particle pollution. This is partially due to cars, partially due toeverything being powered by coal, and partially due to what remains of the steel industry. Also, some of it comes from Ohio, because Ohio’s just nasty like that.
And yes, it’s worse than Los Angeles.
Norlisk, Russia
Norlisk has a proud history of…er…being a slave labor camp. Yeah. Believe it or not, things haveactually gotten worse.
Pollution is pretty standard when your main industry is pulling metal out of the ground, but Norliskstill manages to over achieve, dumping 4 million tons of metal dust into the air yearly, withingredients like yummy cadmium and arsenic. It’s so bad trees can’t survive, and yet the Russiansendure.
Los Angeles, USA
What, you thought that just because we were beating on Pittsburgh, LA wasn’t going to make thelist? Of course not! But, don’t worry, the factories in Jersey have been shut down long enough wewon’t be hitting that stereotype.
Why does LA make the list if Pittsburgh has crappier air? Because LA has more nasty gasses, notlittle particles! Namely, it’s got ozone, which is great when it’s way, way up there in the ozone layer, but has this nasty tendency to destroy lungs. LA remains number one in this respect, but, on thebright side, they’re not Pittsburgh.
La Oroya, Peru
Lead is not a friendly metal. Sure, it protects us from radiation, but you don’t want it anywherenear you outside of the dentist. Which is bad news for La Oroya, which has as its mainindustry…lead smelting.
That smelter has been at it since 1922, and there’s so much lead in the air, soil, and water that 99% of the kids there test for three times the acceptable amount. Oh, and there’s neither moneynor resources to clean it up; this stuff’s going to be there for centuries. Kind of the gift that keepson giving.
Mexico City, Mexico
Mexico City is shafted not by regulations or by drug lords or by companies, but by geography. There are a lot of people driving a lot of cars, which means a lot of exhaust. Unfortunately, MexicoCity is sitting in a valley, and it’s about a mile and a half above sea level. This means thin air andweak winds. Which means that everything put in the air over Mexico City stays there.
Pernik, Bulgaria
First, it must be said that Bulgaria itself is kind of a dirty place. People mostly burn coal to deal withthe long winters, and most of the cars are the kind of Soviet nightmares that lack seat-belts, letalone fancy schmancy pollution-reducing catalytic converters.
So if you’re the energy center of Bulgaria, with a coal mine, AND a thriving metallurgy industry ontop of that…well, being the filthiest of the filthiest isn’t hard to pull off. Welcome to Pernik, where ifit’s not on fire, it’s metal, and it’s all trying to kill you. No wonder these people drink.
Vapi, India
Vapi is a thriving and busy industrial center. Unfortunately, most of those industries are chemical. And what isn’t chemical is actually the water treatment plant trying to clean the crud from thechemical industries.
As a result, Vapi is a bit messy. Pretty much all of the water, soil and air is saturated in stuff youdon’t want to breathe, drink, or eat. And it’s got plenty of residents too!
On the bright side, at least they don’t have Mumbai’s drainage problems. Well, we hope, anyway.
